A Clive man's cooking preparations for his daughter's 21st birthday party last night ended in ashes when fire gutted the front of the Clive Community Hall.
"No, I'm not feeling the best," the man, who asked not to be named, said as he watched firefighters dampen down the last of the
hotspots.
"Although people around here will probably know who I am."
He could only shake his head as he told of how quickly the fire erupted just after 12.20pm.
He had gone to the hall, which family had earlier decorated, to begin cooking some meat for the late-afternoon gathering.
"I just went home quickly to get some tongs."
It was his niece, who arrived at his Tuckers Lane home only a few hundred metres from the hall, who told him the hall was on fire.
He raced back and saw smoke and flames pouring from the windows of the kitchen area.
A neighbour, Brent Pattison, said he could smell smoke and thought he'd burned a pie he had put in his oven.
"But I checked it and it was fine. Then I smelled a plastic burning smell."
He went outside and saw smoke billowing from the hall.
A passing motorist had been the first to spot the blaze and called the fire service.
Four appliances and the rural tanker attended the blaze, which was soon brought under control.
"It's a shame all right," Mr Pattison said, adding that the hall was community owned and cared for. In the past three years fundraising had seen it receive a new roof, a paint job and the native timber walls and flooring polished.
A large number of locals stood back and watched the firefighters at work.
One man said that, like many, he had had his 21st birthday celebrations in the hall, and hoped it would be repaired.
It is understood the hall is insured.
The entranceway, kitchen and toilet area were gutted in the blaze, and there was some damage, mainly from smoke, to the main area.
The man whose cooking resulted in the callout, said the party had been hastily re-scheduled.
"We'll be having it at home now."
