The true tale of one of the Lake Ōhau fire's unlikely heroes - a beloved Border collie credited with helping villagers flee to safety - has been captured by a group of Twizel school students.
Hebe the Hero sounded the alarm by repeatedly waking her owners Louis Campbell and Viv Smith-Campbell, who in turn went door-to-door alerting neighbours to encroaching flames in October 2020.
Young authors and illustrators Audra Davis, Bailey Bacchus, Romy Menard and Dani Lloyd said Hebe the Hero was a year in the making.
Bailey said the story had involved a lot of background work including interviews with community members and emergency services, fire safety tips, illustrations and poetry.
"We did a lot of research. It was just real great interviewing a bunch of people and learning a bunch of new stuff about the fire," she said.
Hebe, who was generally quiet and calm, also barked loudly to help with the evacuation.
Dani said she learned just how valuable Hebe was while working on the book.
"The community really needed that dog at the time to help rescue them," she said.
Hebe, 13, died days after the fire, having received a Fire and Emergency New Zealand bravery award.
"When we saw the pictures and the girls read it through, I was completely unprepared for how affecting it was. It was really a beautiful sweet book. It was something really special and we knew then that this is a piece of history," he said.
"Hebe was fearless and she was incredibly intelligent as all these heading dogs, Border collies are. She just wanted everything to be right for everybody. She just wanted everyone to be well and you could feel that with her. We were together every day for 13 years except maybe one or two days a year when we had to go to the coast for shopping or something."
If Hebe was still around, the attention would prompt a lot of tail-wagging, he said.
Twizel Area School assistant principal Melissa McLellan said she had secured Ministry of Education funding to get the story printed.
"I wanted to be able to provide some form of programme for our gifted writers and artists and it's something that I've been quite passionate about. I applied for the gifted and talented award and received it. In 2024 we started a writing and art group," she said.
"It's been pretty amazing. The other day when I gave the girls their copy of the book it was really lovely watching their faces light up," she said.
The proceeds would help fund school projects of the authors' choosing, while 50 cents from every copy sold would also support the Ōhau Conservation Trust chaired by Smith-Campbell.
Smith-Campbell said the funds would go to a community planting project.
"It's been wonderful for the community to come together and do an activity like planting. It's so positive and it gets people together and it's been just great," she said.
An official book launch was planned for Tuesday night at the school.
McLellan said some of the 500 printed copies would be distributed through retailers around the country and others would be available to purchase through the school.
This story was first published on rnz.co.nz |  |
