Queenstown Fire

I came to Queenstown for a quiet, stress free life !!!! A week ago we had a small earthquake and yesterday we have this happen.

I was woken at 2am by what I thought were gunshots. Looking out my front door I could see sparks flying high into the air above the Paragon Theatre across the road. My second thought was fireworks but the orange glow of the fire reflected on the Empire Hotel made it all too clear it was something much bigger.

One of the local Fire Brigade guys drove past on his way to the fire station up the road so I knew they would all be on their way.
I grabbed a coat and my camera and raced over to see what was happening. The old BP service station which had recently become a car workshop was well alight. The fire truck arrived in the next 2 minutes and a couple of guys were racing to get cars and trucks away from the fire.

I took a few photos there then went around behind the Empire to get a better vantage point. By now every emergency person in Queenstown was on sight and the Fire Brigade had hoses on the fire. There were about 50-60 people watching, many in their pyjamas. At 2-16am I had just taken a photo when there was an almighty explosion.

This shattered all the windows in the front of the Empire as well as many other windows in nearby shops. 3 Firemen were very close and very lucky not to be hit by flying debris. One of them was knocked off his feet by the force of the blast and a 15m long twisted piece of roofing iron landed right beside him.

Even after this explosion and with no idea what else may be in there ready to explode, the Firies went straight back in to do what they could to stop the fire spreading to the rest of the nearby shops. Within an hour fire trucks started arriving from all over the West Coast to spend another 3 hours fighting the fire.

Even with all that effort the West Coast is now without a Pharmacy and there was extensive damage to 2 other shops. We are all amazed that it wasn't much worse.

A very big thank you and congratulations to all the volunteer Fire Fighters who really did risk their lives to put this fire out in very dangerous conditions.

...and to the bastard who started the fire, I hope you rot in gaol for a long time. We don't want you in this town.