I walked into the lodge as soon as two of the people in her party arrived at the road end, and could see the glow of the burning hut when I left. By the time I got there it was entirely engulfed and I couldn’t get close to it because of the heat.

It is sad that they were accused of leaving the hut without fighting the fire. If that had really happened they would have come out as a complete group, not as a pair followed later by the remainder of their group. There were a couple of club members who jumped to the conclusion that the trampers had let the fire get too hot, but if that was really a risk then they should have replaced the fire as a danger to all who used it (including themselves and their own families). I certainly don’t recall this being discussed prior to the fire and don’t think it represents the view of most club members.

DOC used to inspect the hut at least annually for safety and compliance. That said, I don’t recall the fire being mentioned.

The new hut is an excellent facility. It is a tribute to the generosity of the Nash family, the can do attitude from DOC, and the efforts of the NZDA Manawatu branch members who put their time and effort into replacing the facility with something better. I think I recall one of Mrs Nash’s daughters at the opening talking about how the hut was a great introduction to the outdoors because it was close enough to the road end for easy access, but far enough into the bush for you to feel like you had escaped from civilisation. I hope it stays that way for years to come.

The most important thing is that the group got out safe and well. I agree with Matt – this would have been far worse if the group was already asleep when it happened. It is a lesson for all clubs on the difference between compliance and maintenance.

@Andrew — Hello Andrew. Yes I remember things about them having claimed fire risks on a few occasions. I don’t think DoC would be able to leave up facilities that were unsafe to that extent without a legislative nightmare , at least if someone there deemed it necessary to go to the effort of pulling a bunk out of the 6 bunk huts. What a mess! (Not necessarily DoC’s fault so much as a law change for which nobody had realised the implications.)

I would prefer to have old huts left intact rather than removed. and live with the risk of fire. Older huts should just have a doc sign saying that the building is unsafe and use at own risk.
Its sad when old but still strong and weather proof huts with nice open fires are removed.

I should also clarify that the statement was not any official line from the NZDA whatsoever, and it’s not an exact quote. It’s my interpretation of what I thought I heard from one of the members we met from the NZDA’s Manawatu branch. Any direct statement from the NZDA about what happened from their perspective would trump what I’ve written here. I think it was an off-hand comment that would probably have been more clear and specific if it were stated in a less conversational context. I just included the note in my original trip report as an aside.

Cheers.
Mike.

I dont’ know what drove the NZDA to make your quoted statement “apparently after some visitors let the fireplace get too hot and then packed up and left”, but it really makes me angry. Were they involved in the maintenance of the chimney?

A chimney fire is not caused by the user of the fireplace or logburner; it is caused by bad or absent chimney maintenance and cleaning, resulting in buildup of combustible materials inside the chimney, which eventually WILL start to burn; the chimney effect will then drive that fire to very high intensity very quickly, burning down the hut.

A properly maintained chimney will NOT develop a chimney fire no matter how hot the fire is in the fireplace or logburner – simply because the chimney itself is not combustible!

This incident was a very close call for DOC, and I think and hope they know that. If lives would have been lost, there would have been such a full blown investigation that they would not have had a chance to convince anyone that it was user error.

Stay safe everyone!

Cheers,

Matt

The note in my post “apparently after some visitors let the fireplace get too hot and then packed up and left” is interpreted information from conversing with the NZDA people we met at the lodge on this occasion. They were quite closely involved with looking after and maintaining the hut, and eventually rebuilding it. To them it was far more than a template DoC-provided facility (which it never was anyway) and they would have been affected quite personally by the fire, and likely had a different view. They were really chuffed with their new lodge, though, and were very keen to show the whole thing off to us when we randomly walked up.

All this said, it’s true as Robb pointed out that it would have been a devastating tragedy if you guys had still been inside it. As it happened it was lost property. I guess the important thing is that sometimes these things happen and property can be replaced.

We (myself and 5 young women I was taking into the bush) had come in the late afternoon on a very rainy day and started a fire in the fireplace to dry our clothes and thaw out around.

We noticed at about 10pm that embers were falling from the chimney, so put the fire out and tried to put the chimney fire out as well. The fireplace was very large, so we couldn’t cover it to lessen the oxygen to the fire, but there were two very old-style hand-pump fire extinguishers that we used to squirt the inside and outside chimney with, as well as passing buckets up and down the line to throw water at it. The chimney on the outside was so old that we could see fire burning through the many chinks, but we just couldn’t put it out.

All this time, we were not too concerned, since it was pouring with rain outside and we doubted the fire could last long in the wet.

I had asked my companions to pack their things up in case we had to evacuate, and after about 15 minutes of our continuous trying to put the chimney embers out, the smoke increased to a point that we had to evacuate.

Some army personnel were camping as part of a training exercise at the car park, so I sent two of the party on ahead to get help from them, while the rest of us walked carefully out. It was pitch black and pouring with rain – not so easy to see by torch light.

Anyway, some army guys met us on the way out but soon rejoined us at the carpark, saying there was nothing they could do.

A few minutes later we saw a flash of orange light and realised that the hut had gone up in flames. Such a shock!

I called 111, not thinking they could do anything, but still good to let them know. Not long afterwards, two fire-engines came screaming to the carpark and all these volunteer firefighters bundled out in full gear, asking, ‘where’s the fire?’ We pointed to the glow in the hills and said ‘half an hour that way!’ They then took out their cigarettes and joined us in watching it burn. None of us were able to do anything.

About 1:30 that morning, a DOC representative came to the carpark, where we’d set up tents to sleep in instead, and interviewed me about what had happened. He said the hut was a disaster waiting to happen because it was so poorly maintained, and that he was grateful that we handled it in the way we did.

So, anyway, that’s what really happened. Just so you get the other side of the story. It was some adventure for sure, one that I hope I NEVER repeat. Still love the bush though!!