Community rallies after biggest blaze in 30 years

Ranfurly's Janet and Dick Parker are "by no means destitute" despite losing their home and two businesses in the town's largest structure fire for at least 30 years.

Community members were quick to rally around the couple yesterday, tending to their needs while baking scones for the firefighters' morning tea.

Mr and Mrs Parker (both 58), were woken at 5am, just before their second-storey apartment filled with smoke from a fire burning through their 1940s Art Deco building.

Ranfurly butcher Graeme Jones was driving to work when he saw the flaming building, on the corner of John and Charlemont Sts.

"I stopped the car, hooted the horn, rang the door bell, belted on the doors and just made a racket until they woke up," he said.

Mr and Mrs Parker, in boxer shorts and nightgown respectively, escaped their apartment unharmed with pet cockatiel Eddy.

Smoke alarms installed in their apartment activated as they left the building.

The couple watched as about 25 volunteer firefighters from Ranfurly, Naseby and Omakau prevented neighbouring buildings from catching fire, while fighting the blaze inside.

"We are by no means destitute.

"It's just the personal things that have gone," Mrs Parker said.

Ranfurly Volunteer Fire Brigade Chief Fire Officer James Hazlett believed it was the largest structure fire in the area in the past 30 years.

Pumps from three appliances were used and a fourth fire engine stayed on site.

Mr Hazlett, of Ranfurly, said the concrete and red brick building complex was "fully involved" when emergency services arrived about 5.15am.

"Flames were going over the top of the building and we couldn't gain access inside.

"To devastate half a block of the town's main street is pretty serious . . .

"We haven't had an industrial fire here for quite some time," he said.

Parts of Charlemont and John Sts were closed to traffic most of the day as Fulton Hogan staff secured the site.

Fire safety investigators from Invercargill began examining the building about mid-morning in an attempt to determine where and how the blaze started.

Those details have yet to be confirmed, although the fire is not being treated as suspicious.

Fire walls partitioned sections of the building, although flames reached Mr and Mrs Parker's apartment via the roof.

Their Ranfurly Auto business downstairs was destroyed, along with about 10 vehicles stored in the garage, including a client's Porsche.

A computer and files were salvaged from the couple's adjoining Ranfurly Bike Hire business, and Mrs Parker said she and the company's two other staff would be able to continue operating from her daughter Sharon's home garage.

"All the phones have been diverted and we have about 50 of our 65 bicycles left, as many were rented out.

"People have booked and paid, so we've just got to do it," Mrs Parker said.