HEARTBREAK - 25 years goes up in flames

"Devastated mate, just devastated ... but we'll be back, I can't just leave a hole that big in Dargaville."
Dargaville businessman Ken Foster and wife Elain could only watch in horror on Monday night as the business they had built up over 25 years went up in smoke as four of five buildings they own in Victoria St were destroyed.
Yesterday Mr Foster was back at the scene, downbeat, but determined to rebuild after a fire that had left Dargaville distressed.
Mr Foster said his business and buildings were insured and replacements would rise from the ashes so that Dargaville's main street would not have such a huge hole in it.
"That's 25 years of my life down the tubes," a distraught Mr Foster told the Northern Advocate as he surveyed the burned out shells of the four buildings.
"But we won't let it get us too down and we will get up again, we can't leave the street like this."
He said the buildings collapsed under the flames, with solid steel girders holding up the roof left bent and buckled from the heat.
Mr Foster said the fire was really heartbreaking for his wife, who had put so much work into the family business.
The buildings destroyed by the fire dated back to 1906, but Mr Foster considers he was "lucky" that the "great work" of fire-fighters saved the Blockbuster Video store, also in a building he owns, from going up in flames.
But even in the face of such loss, Mr Foster was thinking about his community. "Our priority is to get the Resene Colourshop up and running as soon as possible. It was better than anything there is in Whangarei and the people here really need it," he said.
"I'm not sure if we will have to find a temporary building or what, but we will find something."
The Dargaville community was rallying round to help the Fosters and the other business owners and while there was an air of sadness in the Kaipara town, there was also a steely determination that the town would overcome this latest setback.
In 1961 five buildings almost directly opposite Monday's fire were also destroyed in a blaze.
The Fosters owned Foster's Home Decorating and Resene Colourshop while neighbouring businesses Main Street Interiors - where the fire started - Lyndsey Bargh Physiotherapy and the Red Cross opportunity shop were also razed.
A series of good luck, circumstances, and good firefighting prevented the fire from destroying an entire block of 12 buildings.
The keen eyes and quick thinking of Northland fire safety officer Craig Bain almost certainly saved some of the 100 firefighters on Monday night from death or serious injury.
At the height of the flames, a group of firefighters were hitting the blaze from in front when Mr Bain noticed cracks starting to appear in the two-story brick facade above them.
He became concerned and raised the alarm with another fire officer, who quickly got them away. Within two minutes it collapsed, bringing down several tonnes of bricks on the spot where the firefighters had been.
"In a situation like this you always have to be on the lookout for the potential dangers," Mr Bain said.
As well as the efforts of the firefighters, the spread of fire was hindered by an alleyway and the direction of wind.
Mr Bain said he believed, at this stage, that the fire was not deliberately lit.