BRYAN KIRK
A fire at a Norsewood property caused damage estimated at $500,000.
Fire appliances from Dannevirke, Norsewood and Ormondville were called to the blaze at agricultural contractor Wayne Hermansen's Arthur Rd property shortly before 11am on Thursday.
Three hay balers, two mowers and a new tractor went up in smoke in the
blaze.
A woodshed was completely burned down, and an adjoining vehicle shed extensively damaged.
Charred remains were all that was left of the vehicles inside the shed - among them a recently purchased John Deere tractor.
``It's heartbreaking,' Mr Hermansen said. ``That's about $500,000 damage.'
Mr Hermansen said the fire had started in the woodshed.
Some recently-felled trees were being burned off about 50m downhill from the shed and a stray spark had blown in, igniting the wood.
``The wood was that dry that it just exploded,' he said.
As well as spreading to the vehicle shed, the fire also damaged a nearby car shed.
``The heat was that intense that it broke a pane of glass and started to melt the plastic guttering,' he said.
Mr Hermansen said things could have been a lot worse.
``It's lucky nobody was hurt. The irony is I had a brand new truck which I had moved out of the shed this morning.
``Otherwise that would have gone up, too.'
Norsewood chief fire officer Roger Montgomery said the fire was well involved when they got there.
The arrival of the two appliances from Dannevirke meant that the fire could be attacked from both ends and got under control, he said.
