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Houses saved from Te Awamutu cafe fire

  • Nancy EL-Gamel and Donna-lee Biddle
  • Jun 6, 2015
  • 2 min read

Crews were unable to enter the building because it was unsafe. Photo: Nancy EL-Gamel

Published on Stuff.co.nz

Fire crews saved two Waikato homes from burning down when a fire at an outdoor centre threatened to spread to neighbouring houses.

A cupboard in the Wharepapa Outdoor Centre Cafe in Wharepapa South caught on fire and quickly engulfed the whole building.

A spokesman from Te Awamutu Fire Brigade said it was the owner of the business that first alerted the emergency services.

"He thought his rags were on fire and tried to put it out but couldn't," he said.

"It was pretty intense the way it was impeaching onto the house and the block of flats out the back."

The fire crews were called out about 6.30pm on Wednesday and the building was still smoldering two hours later. Fire crews expected to be there until 10.30pm.

"It was a ferocious fire, it went to second alarm. Our initial thoughts were to save the house."

As the Wharepapa Outdoor Centre is in a rural area on Owairaka Valley Road, 20 minutes outside of Te Awamutu, the brigade had to call in extra help.

"The problem out here is the lack of water, so we got three more [water] tankers from Cambridge, Otorohanga and Te Awamutu."

The cafe was so damaged that it was unsafe for crews to actually enter the building due to the risk of it collapsing.

"The cafe is totally destroyed. The house was a good save. The initial crew got in and did a good external attack and saved the house basically."

Waikato fire area commander Roy Breeze said: "From my perspective the guys have done a really good job. It was quite a fierce fire. They wore breathing apparatus because of the smoke."

He said the owners had quite a lot of climbing gear in the cafe which was all destroyed.

"They made an attempt to put the fire out but saw how quickly it started to spread and made the good decision to get out," he said.

Ten fire trucks were sent to control the blaze and three water tanks were requested.

At this stage it is unknown what caused the blaze and the premises were empty.

 
 
 

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