A Central Otago man who fled his burning caravan which was engulfed in flames within 30 seconds has a message for other caravan owners: "watch out for candles".
Shayle Palmer (37) works as a casual staff member at Plant and Food Research's Earnscleugh station, and had permission to camp on site. He was in the caravan late on Monday night when a candle he was using for lighting blew over.
"Within 30 seconds the whole caravan went up in flames - that's how quickly it happened.
The fire was right next to my 9kg gas cylinder and once I heard it going up, I just ran." The blaze levelled his caravan and his tent nearby but he was relieved his dog, who was sleeping in the tent, managed to get out.
"It was the biggest relief to find out she was OK. She'd run off and had a few burns, but was fine."
The fire was a sobering reminder of the dangers of using a candle, Mr Palmer said.
"I think a gust of wind must have knocked the candle over and it all happened so quickly."
He was staying with friends yesterday and had another tent to camp in, but would not be using candles for lighting again, he said.
Clyde Volunteer Fire Brigade Chief Fire Officer Richard Davidson said Mr Palmer was "extremely lucky".
The caravan was at the back of the rural property, near the Fraser River, difficult for the brigade to get to in the dark.
Fanned by strong northwest winds, it burnt quickly.
A team of about 20 firefighters spent almost two hours at the site as the fire spread to tree stumps, branches and grass along about 80m of the nearby riverbank.
