Excellerated house fire

My word, Leeston is very exciting lately.

Late last night as we were just about to go to bed.

Punk came out to say to call the fire brigade.

The naughty neighbour's house had caught fire

and it's very suspicious.

The kids, I say that cause they are young,

were having a very small,

very quiet 18th birthday party for one of the boys who lived there.

They all got out safely.

It's good thing shoes are optional in NZ cause none of them have any now.
The house is totally munted.

This is from our front door which is at the back.

(House relocated, turned around to take advantage of the sun)

This was just after I called 111.

I was unfailingly polite to the operator

cause I was a little bit surprised to find myself calling them.

About a minute after this photo was taken

the front of the house went whoosh and

flames were metres into the sky.

This is also happening metres from my house.

Mem called out to the birthday boy

who then joined us on the deck

(there's a poem here).

He was naturally upset but even more so

because one of the girls who was visiting

tried three times to get into the tinder dry, well and truly on fire house.....

to get her phone.

The local cop finally handcuffed her and shut her in his car.

I tell ya it's all on in Leeston.

The Leeston Volunteer Fire Brigade was very prompt.

Apparently they were a bit concerned when they pulled up

cause the fire was so hot from the street.

 

You can hardly see but

here are the guys going into the house.

Let's talk about the house.

The house is incredibly old.

Murray, one of the firemen was brought home

from the hospital as a baby.

He must be 60 if he is a day.

It has been an iconic house because it was the home

of three brothers who were midgets.

They used to sit where my gate is now

and jump out at school kids as they walked home from school.

We called it the pig house because a mate of Oti's reckons

it looks like a pig's face.

The naughty kids moved next door

probably because no sane, self respecting person would live in it.

Between the midget sized kitchen,

the earthquake uneven floors,

the lack of insulation

and the just plain ugliness

the only reason to live there was

that the rent would have been next to nothing.

So hours later we went to bed.

Our house a little worse for sooty wear.

This morning the house is surrounded by fire investigators

and CIB police people.

We've been interviewed and will be interviewed again

for a small amount of info we have.

Looks like it was silly kids playing with fire

or maybe it was something else.

Regardless of what happened,

you can't help but feel sorry for the naughty kids.

Besides, now we get a peaceful summer without noisy neighbours.