A Middlemarch family had to flee their home in the dead of night after flames ripped through their home this morning.<\/p>\n
It was a particularly busy Friday for Southern firefighters, who had to deal with a workshop completely engulfed in flames in Goodwood, near Palmerston, a burn pile that spread to somebody’s car and set it alight in Gore, a barn in Southland razed to the ground by flames, a large and out-of-control vegetation fire in Arrow Junction.<\/p>\n
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said \u2018\u2018they did a bit of work last night\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
In the latest incident,\u00a0a Middlemarch family had to evacuate their home after a fire broke out at 1am today.<\/p>\n
The spokesman said six crews went to the scene, two from Middlemarch, two from Mosgiel and one from Naseby.<\/p>\n
When they arrived, they found the house completely engulfed in flames.<\/p>\n
Crews were at the scene for many hours and by 4.30am had fully extinguished the blaze.<\/p>\n
No one was injured, the spokesman said, and an investigator\u00a0would be at the scene to determine the cause of the blaze. \u00a0<\/p>\n
About 5.30pm yesterday, a very large contingent of 11 crews from the Hedgehope, Mataura, Wyndham, Gore and Riversdale stations were called to an out-of-control burn pile threatening\u00a0a nearby home in the Waimumu area in Southland.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When crews arrived, the burn pile had caught on a hedge even closer to the house, the spokesman said.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Crews worked to control the fire and extinguish it … the fire did unfortunately catch on to a car, which was well involved.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018But we did manage to avoid damage to the house.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Crews were on site until 9pm dampening down and fully extinguishing the blaze.<\/p>\n
Shortly before 4pm yesterday, three crews from the Browns, Winton and Hedgehope stations attended a barn fire in Browns, Southland.<\/p>\n
When they arrived, they found a shed that was fully alight.<\/p>\n
The fire on the barn was \u2018\u2018pretty quick\u2019\u2019 to extinguish, however, inside was a pile of woodchips that had also caught fire, the spokesman said.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018That took a little bit of time to dampen down – we actually used a digger and a loader to pull the wood chip apart.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Firefighters left the scene about 8pm.<\/p>\n
Just after 6.30pm yesterday in Goodwood, just outside of Palmerston, three crews from Waikouaiti and three from Palmerston were called to a workshop shed that was well-alight.<\/p>\n
Firefighters managed to fully extinguish the blaze in\u00a0one hour, and crews left the scene not too long after that.<\/p>\n
In Arrow Junction, helicopters carrying monsoon buckets and aided by scores of firefighters were busy for much of yesterday afternoon tackling a large and out-of-control vegetation fire.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The spokesman said they were alerted about 1.20pm and on arrival found a 250m x 100m fire.<\/p>\n
Three crews from Arrowtown, one from Queenstown, one from Frankton, two from Kingston and two helicopters attended.<\/p>\n
By 4pm, the fire was under control and crews were dampening down.<\/p>\n
None of the fires were flagged as suspicious, he said.<\/p>\n