Intensity of house fire still with victim
Luke Chapman was woken at 3am after hearing a "crash" and "bang" in his home in Allandale Rd, St Clair.
The sound was a roaring fire smashing his windows and engulfing a wall.
He yelled for his two adult children to get out and, 10 minutes later, the house was fully engulfed in flames.
"One more minute and we would have all been gone," he said.
By morning, the home was a total loss — as well as everything inside it.
At the fire's peak, 26 firefighters were battling it.
Three weeks on, Mr Chapman said he was "in awe" of the generosity of the Dunedin community.
"The generosity of the community and how quickly they jumped to task was so humbling — everything from clothing through to a house was offered."
A Givealittle page was set up for Mr Chapman and his family, and the funds raised were going towards supporting them day to day.
Mr Chapman, who works for Allied Press, said fire was a "beast", and warned that it was a lot more intense, fast-moving and dangerous than many people thought.
"The fire bit me for less than a second, yet I ended up with second-degree burns, seven days in hospital. Most of my back's all chewed to pieces and disfigured for whoever knows how long.
"It was less than a second of exposure to the radiant heat. I didn't even touch the flames."
Burns covered 18% of his body — if it had been 20%, he would have been sent to the burns unit in Christchurch.
His injuries were "evolving burns", which meant they got worse in the first week before beginning to heal.
Losing all his possessions was also something he had to come to terms with.
"Even simple things ... like our cars were in the driveway, but all the keys melted with the house, so we had to get all new keys cut — all little things that are now all gone."
Videotapes with his children's first moments were burnt, but luckily a hard drive of family photos had been left at work earlier that week.
However, at the moment, Mr Chapman was "nobody", as all his formal identification was destroyed.
"We keep all the passports and the birth certificates in a safe drawer on the desk in the hallway, supposedly to grab on the way out when there's a fire — doing that didn't even cross my mind. It was 'let's just get out of here'."
He suggested people store identification in a fireproof safe, because it was "very, very difficult" to get new identification.
The house had working smoke alarms, but he did not notice if they activated in the rush to escape.
Fire investigator Scottie Cameron said the the cause of the fire had been determined and the blaze was being classed as accidental.
Mr Chapman's burns were now healing well, and slowly things were falling into place.
"The nightmares that I have is if I had woken up one minute later, the house would have been full of smoke and there would have been flames everywhere.
"It would have been a totally different kind of fire."
laine.priestley@odt.co.nz
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A Dunedin man seriously burned in a ferocious house fire says his family had a minute to escape the inferno "or we would have all been gone". Luke Chapman was woken at 3am after hearing a "crash" and "bang" in his home in Allandale Rd, St Clair. The sound was a roaring fire smashing his windows and engulfing a wall. He yelled for his two adult children to get out and, 10 minutes later, the house was fully engulfed in flames. "One more minute and we would have all been gone," he said. By morning, the home was a total loss — as well as everything inside it. At the fire's peak, 26 firefighters were battling it. Three weeks on, Mr Chapman said he was "in awe" of the generosity of the Dunedin community. "The generosity of the community and how quickly they jumped to task was so humbling — everything from clothing through to a house was offered." A Givealittle page was set up for Mr Chapman and his family, and the funds raised were going towards supporting them day to day. Mr Chapman, who works for Allied Productions, said fire was a "beast", and warned that it was a lot more intense, fast-moving and dangerous than many people thought. "The fire bit me for less than a second, yet I ended up with second-degree burns, seven days in hospital. Most of my back's all chewed to pieces and disfigured for whoever knows how long. "It was less than a second of exposure to the radiant heat. I didn't even touch the flames." Burns covered 18% of his body — if it had been 20%, he would have been sent to the burns unit in Christchurch. His injuries were "evolving burns", which meant they got worse in the first week before beginning to heal. Losing all his possessions was also something he had to come to terms with. "Even simple things ... like our cars were in the driveway, but all the keys melted with the house, so we had to get all new keys cut — all little things that are now all gone." Videotapes with his children's first moments were burnt, but luckily a hard drive of family photos had been left at work earlier that week. However, at the moment, Mr Chapman was "nobody", as all his formal identification was destroyed. "We keep all the passports and the birth certificates in a safe drawer on the desk in the hallway, supposedly to grab on the way out when there's a fire — doing that didn't even cross my mind. It was 'let's just get out of here'." He suggested people store identification in a fireproof safe, because it was "very, very difficult" to get new identification. The house had working smoke alarms, but he did not notice if they activated in the rush to escape. Fire investigator Scottie Cameron said the the cause of the fire had been determined and the blaze was being classed as accidental. Mr Chapman's burns were now healing well, and slowly things were falling into place. "The nightmares that I have is if I had woken up one minute later, the house would have been full of smoke and there would have been flames everywhere. "It would have been a totally different kind of fire."
