Quick-thinking volunteer stops fire from spreading

An information centre volunteer transformed into a firefighter when a vehicle parked outside his workplace started to go up in smoke.

John Thacker was sitting behind the desk at the Lyttelton Information Centre a when he saw smoke spilling out from under the bonnet of a white four-wheel drive.

Fearing it could spread to the information centre or the car could explode, he grabbed a fire extinguisher off the wall.

“It was the first time we’ve had the extinguisher off the wall,” he said.

Thacker told an onlooker to call 111.

After checking no-one was inside, he started extinguishing the side of the vehicle closest to the Oxford St building, as he was concerned the verandah could catch fire.

“It would’ve gone up like a packet of crackers,” he said.

The flames still managed to melt the guttering, while smoke went into the building.

Just when Thacker thought his work was done, the fire began to flare up again. He kept going, but eventually the extinguisher ran out of powder.

The fire brigade arrived soon after, about 15 minutes after the original call, and quickly controlled the blaze.

They opened up the bonnet “like a can” and used water to extinguish the flames, Thacker said.

Meanwhile, the driver and passengers – two women and a young child – came around the corner and saw what had happened to their car.

Thacker invited them into the centre for a glass of water.

“I think they got a bit of a shock, but they were grateful for what everyone had done for them.”

Garage fire​ came close to reaching family home

A double garage fire in Sumner came within minutes of spreading to an adjacent house where a family was sleeping.

The couple, and their nephew, were woken by firefighters, knocking on a window of their Denman St house about 4am last Thursday.

A neighbour raised the alarm after smelling smoke, and when the Sumner Volunteer Fire Brigade arrived, the double garage was already engulfed in flames.

The householder told The Star the incident was a “bit of a blur”.

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used two hose lines to bring the blaze under control, taking about an hour to fully extinguish it.

Sumner fire chief Daryl Sayer said quick action by neighbours prevented the fire from spreading.

“This was a good example where prompt action by neighbours in calling 111 resulted in the fire being contained to the garage, with the adjacent house suffering no significant damage.”

“It was imminent – if it had been left for much longer, it would have caught onto the house.”