A man at home when his house caught fire was lucky to escape, Ashburton’s fire chief says.
Alan Burgess said the home on Suffolk St did not have smoke alarms.
When firefighters arrived, about 2am Sunday, a bedroom where the fire had started was fully involved, as was an adjacent room. Flames were coming out windows. The two rooms were destroyed and the rest of the house smoke damaged.
There were a couple of variables in what could be the cause, which was unlikely to be determined.
Then at Pendarves later the same day, it was a case of what not to do. But fishermen at the Pendarves beach did it anyway – lit a firework in tinder dry conditions.
Pendarves and Rakaia volunteer fire brigades responded to the grass fire on Sunday about 4.30pm.
Pendarves deputy chief Richard McArthur said the fire, along the seaside clifftop on farmland at the Pendarves cutting, was called in by one of the fishermen.
‘‘It had travelled 500m by the time we got there,’’ McArthur said.
Alongside dry conditions, there had been a ‘‘reasonable north-easterly wind’’.
The fishermen had admitted to finding the firework and lighting it. ‘‘They waited there and owned up to it.’’
Firefighters were at the scene for about one hour. Dry conditions in Mid Canterbury have eased after rain on Tuesday.
The district remains in a restricted fire season.
Meanwhile Fire and Emergency New Zealand has imposed a temporary ban on all fireworks activity in Ashburton Lakes from now until the end of March 2025.
The Ashburton Lakes area includes Lake Clearwater and Lake Camp.
The ban was made under Section 52 of the Fire and Emergency Act to prevent people from letting off fireworks in these areas as part of ongoing efforts to reduce the risk of wildfire over summer.
There is also a ban in the Mackenzie Basin.
Weather conditions have been too hot, dry and windy.
