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Builder Cheyenne Salter was working on a roof in Christchurch’s Port Hills when he saw flames heading towards a house.
He ran onto the property and joined a group of other tradies using buckets and a sprinkler to deal with the “fire tornadoes” heading towards them.
At one point, Salter was in a pool filling buckets when he had to fully submerge himself to escape the scorching heat.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / Stuff
Annabel Phillipson’s house is the one with the scaffolding on the left side of this photo.
Firefighters and helicopter pilots battled the Redcliffs blaze Monday afternoon when flames reached meters from homes.
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Annabel Phillipson’s home on John Monck Ln was one of those threatened by the fire.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / Stuff
Annabel Phillipson with her dog Andie. His home was dangerously close to the flames during Monday’s Redcliffs fire.
Builders building a double garage and bedroom on their lot saw the flames and quickly raised the alarm.
“One of them knocked on the door and said there was a fire down the hill and it looks like it’s coming this way,” Phillipson said.
He began collecting the family’s valuables, while his 23-year-old daughter Juliette joined the builders in trying to put out the flames.
The trees under the new building caught fire, meaning the fire was “actually burning under the house.”
“I was terrified.”
Jonathan Foate / Supplied
Juliette and Annabel Phillipson collect valuables after police told them to evacuate their family’s home due to a fire Monday afternoon.
Salter began filling buckets to throw into the flames that “blazed” by the house.
“A couple of other builders were there, and we helped people out of the house and we got a hose and we were spraying water where we could,” he said.
“It was incredible the way he hit; there were like tornadoes of fire. “
The fire got too close and Salter’s leg “burned a bit.”
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / Stuff
Cheyenne Salter is one of the builders who fought fire by drawing water directly from a pool.
“I was half in the pool with buckets and the fire went out a bit; I had to dive right into the pool to stop roasting. “
Phillipson said she was very grateful for the help from the builders.
“It was our builder Connor and a few others. My daughter joined them, they were pouring water from the pool onto the flames.
“The fire truck had gotten there, but they didn’t get the hoses out in time, so those guys stopped [the house from] Burning fire. We were very lucky “.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / Stuff
Nanny Zoe Le Gros, left, was caring for 7-year-old Zoe when the fire forced them to flee. Owners Terri and Travis Taiaroa, pictured with 2-year-old Zane, returned home to find their street closed due to the fire.
Travis Taiaroa’s home on John Monck Ln was also evacuated after the flames approached 15 meters.
“We didn’t know if we were going to lose the house or not.”
His neighbors’ houses were “pretty close to being lost,” he said.
“If you look at it from the air, we were probably a helicopter away from losing the house.”
The fire was extinguished and crews left the scene early Tuesday morning.
A fire on Pines Beach, in the Waimakariri district, north of the city, also forced several residents to flee their homes on Monday.
The fire, which sent flames 12 meters high, swept through some 31 hectares of scrub near the coastal settlement and continued to burn overnight. Firefighters continued to fight the blaze Tuesday, which was 60 percent contained by mid-afternoon.
