Thirty firefighters from the Greymouth, Cobden and Brunner volunteer fire brigades battled the flames at the Thompson St address after the alarm was raised at 11.15pm on Tuesday.
The fire is being treated as suspicious. A police scene guard remained on site all night and the CIB and fire investigators were sifting through the ashes yesterday morning.
It was the third house fire in the Greymouth area in the past week, following devastating blazes in High St as well as in Carroll St, Runanga.
Greymouth Chief Fire Officer Lee Swinburn said the old gang house was fully ablaze when the brigade arrived, and had probably been burning for some time before the brigade was called.
A neighbouring house also caught alight and was extensively damaged on the western wall.
While crews battled the main fire, others fought to save the other house, attacking the flames from both inside and outside.
It took about 30 minutes to contain the fire, but crews stayed on site for about two and a-half hours, dampening down hotspots.
Aotearoa Natives Greymouth leader Brad Kahui, vicepresident of Te Waipounamu South Island chapter, said the destroyed house was the gang’s clubhouse and a place members went when they needed somewhere to stay.
‘‘It was our homestead, our second home away from home,’’ Mr Kahui said.
He lived there most of the week and had lost everything in the fire.
‘‘I am disgusted .. . I don’t even want to go up there and have a look,’’ he said.
Mr Kahui was socialising at a friend’s place when someone phoned to say the clubhouse was on fire. He had tried to get into the street at the time but was prevented by the roadblocks in place.
His rottweiler was in a shed at the property but managed to escape and was safe.
Mr Kahui said he could not yet say what caused the fire.
‘‘We are not at war with any other gangs or anything, but the locals don’t like us setting up here.’’
It was the second time the Thompson St house had caught fire. Windows had been smashed several times in the three years the gang had lived there, Mr Kahui said.
Thompson St has been a target for suspicious fires in the past. In August last year, 30 firefighters spent about two hours bringing a suspicious house fire there under control. In April 2019, a house fire in the same street was treated as arson.
As a next step, the Aotearoa Natives would regroup and look for somewhere new to live but Mr Kahui, who grew up on the West Coast, stressed that the gang would not be moving out of Greymouth.
‘‘We aren’t going anywhere.’’
The clubhouse was uninsured.
Mr Kahui would apply to Work and Income for clothing and food assistance. While he had family, it should not be up to them to support him, he said.
- Georgia O'Connor-Harding
