A Canterbury man says he is “devastated” after his late father’s car collection was lost in a blaze at Southbridge.
Ben Lappage said his dad, who died in 2012, had been collecting cars for 30 to 40 years.
He said contractors were on site at the time of the fire, and is “glad nobody was hurt”.
The fire tore through two sheds on the property.
The collection of cars and parts had significant sentimental value in his family.
“One of the cars I was brought home from the hospital in. It’s memories like that you’ll never get back,” he said.
“One of my dad’s first cars was a 1970 Mark II Cortina GTE, and that was in there.
“He spent thousands of dollars back when he was younger than I am doing all the mods … from there the passion grew.
"He spent years buying, selling, wheeling, dealing to get the best stuff for himself, and a big storage lot, because he knew one day the parts wouldn't be available, and they're not."
Lappage said many of the cars were “road ready or close to”, and parts were available in the lot in case they needed replacing.
“We had been trying to assess what we were going to do with the rest of the cars, because we can’t afford to run them all, but still honour his legacy.”
Fire and Emergency New Zealand was alerted to the Selwyn District fire yesterday at around 3pm.
Earlier today, 30 firefighters, 10 trucks, and heavy machinery crews were working to extinguish the blaze, while two helicopters were on standby.
By late this morning it was controlled to 38 hectares with a perimeter of 2.6 kilometres and it has since been described as "contained" by Incident Controller Lou Ander, with "most firefighting crews stood down and some heavy machinery work continuing to turn over hotspots".
Two sheds containing cars and parts were destroyed in the Southbridge vegetation fire. (Source: 1News)
Assistant Commander Kevin McCombe said "We urge people to check any existing burn piles to make sure they are fully extinguished."
"Windy weather is the perfect condition for old fires to reignite and escape."
He asked anyone who had been burning vegetation at any time over the last few months to check that the fire was fully extinguished.
"If there’s hot ash, and it’s safe to do so, dig into it, spread it out and pour water over it."
All roads are now open and the fireground is expected to be handed back to the landowner this afternoon.
Ander said that cause of the fire won’t be known until the investigation underway is completed.
Though the fire is contained, Ander warns "There’ll be some smoke visible from the fireground as remaining hotspots are extinguished over the next few days. This is expected."
The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including an injury blow for the Black Ferns, the main suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance is out of jail, and self driving cars are here. (Source: 1News)
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