Woman injured saving animals

Cat's Whiskers Cattery, Saddle Hill, owner Brent Baguley speaks to his insurance company...
Cat's Whiskers Cattery, Saddle Hill, owner Brent Baguley speaks to his insurance company yesterday from his Westwood business after his Saddle Hill Rd home was damaged in Wednesday's fire. Photo by Christine O'Connor.

The woman injured in Wednesday's raging fire was saving animals on Saddle Hill when she suffered burns to the inside of her throat.

She was in  in a stable condition in a high dependency ward at Dunedin Hospital this morning.

Brent Baguley - the owner of Cat's Whiskers Cattery, in Saddle Hill Rd, near Fairfield, and Allandale Cattery and Kennels in Westwood - said the woman, aged in her 40s, asked not to be named.

She worked for him in his Westwood kennel.

Mr Baguley was travelling to Washdyke to buy a ride-on mower when he learned of the fire.

Three of his Westwood staff, including the woman, then went to his 27ha property, Cleveland Park, in Saddle Hill Rd, to rescue his three dogs, including two Samoyeds, who were in the basement, and seven cats, including Norwegian forest cats, who were in an upstairs room.

There was no outside key, so the staff smashed the basement door to enter the house and retrieve the animals.

During the rescue, the woman inhaled hot air, damaging the inside of her throat, he said.

''It [the heat] was intense. I don't know how the house didn't burn down. It was sheer heat and she sucked it in and burnt her throat.''

The fire, which was close to the house, destroyed the fibreglass roof of the nearby 12m by 8m building housing a swimming pool.

The melted fibreglass resin had made toxic smoke, he said.

After returning to Dunedin, Mr Baguley said he fought the fire with a garden hose until 4am yesterday.

''I wasn't going to leave because we would have lost the house.''

He continued to dampen hot spots on the property with the hose last night.

People were calling yesterday to check on their cats at the Saddle Hill Rd cattery.

The staff evacuated the cattery and moved the animals, none of which were injured, to the Westwood cattery.

The Saddle Hill cattery escaped damage.

Mr Baguley said he and his wife, Donna, had owned Cleveland Park only since Monday, and Wednesday was his birthday.

About 16ha of bushland on the property has a Queen Elizabeth II National Trust open space covenant.

The main damage was to a big plantation of prized rhododendrons and the pool building, but he had insurance, he said.

About 8ha of the land was planted in daffodils and about 10% was destroyed by fire. A compost heap on the property remained on fire yesterday.

Cleveland Park used to belong to philanthropist and businessman Les Cleveland, who died in 2013.

He grew daffodils on the land for charity fundraising.

shawn.mcavinue@odt.co.nz

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