Arnold Kalnins lost all his valuables when his house caught on fire on Friday night. Photo/ Michael Cunningham
Not many can claim to have survived the cruel bombings during World War II and decades later narrowly escape a terrifying house fire, almost unscathed but 80-year-old Arnold Kalnins has.
“I won’t forget that dreadful day,” said Kaikohe resident Kalnins about the fire that decimated his house and caused him to seek refuge in a nearby wooden shed.
On August 25, as the Woodbine Rd local was about to doze off on his chair with his three puppies on a blanket, he heard some “popping sounds” coming from the lounge fireplace. By the time he opened his eyes, his house was engulfed in flames.
After his attempt to extinguish the fire failed, he took his puppies and escaped before the fire worsened.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand investigators believed the fire was caused by leftover firewood Kalnins had kept near the fireplace. They thought it had somehow caught fire then burned out of control.
“I lost everything in that fire, you know. All the photo albums, wallet, car keys, old books, my pianos. Everything I cherished just disappeared in front of my eyes and that made me feel very depressed.”
His one desperate attempt to retrieve some items from the fire and smoke-filled house didn’t work as the intensity of the heat made him feel “out of breath”.
Nearly three months have passed and Kalnins has yet to find permanent accommodation. He slept on a makeshift bed and lived off the donated canned food and drinking water cylinders provided by the helpful community.
“My son Remo also had set up a Givealittle page which had received about $32,000 but due to some formalities he is unable to cash it out for the moment.”
Kalnins said his current living condition reminded him of his university days when he often went out camping with his friends.
“The shed’s all cramped up with all my salvaged stuff but it’s not too bad to live in and certainly not my first setback.”
A few years ago he travelled to Levin to pay his respects to his late brother-in-law and comfort his sister. On his return, he was shocked to find his house had been ransacked and hot water cylinders, pumps and laundry taps stolen.
Kalnins remembers buying the house in the late 1990s during his second visit to Aotearoa.
“My first visit was as a refugee with my mother and sister after we fled Latvia post World War II and arrived in New Zealand in 1951.
“Coincidentally we lived in a cramped wooden shed at a property in Palmerston North and slept on the single army-like foldable beds.”
He vaguely remembers when his father, a Latvian army conscript, successfully convinced his superiors during the war to let his family flee to a haven.
“However, he was unable to go with us due to his duties. Several other ships also left with ours, but due to bombings, the ones in front and back of us got sunk quickly. But we somehow made it through.”
He was born just two years before the end of World War II in Latvia’s capital city, Riga.
Kalnins said the oldest memories he had were of the sirens alerting them of an air raid.
“On one occasion a bomb fell quite close to the bunker our mother had dug but it didn’t explode. Because if the blast didn’t kill us, the concussion we would have sustained would have.
Kalnins recalls being overjoyed when he heard his father had survived, years later and met up with him with his sister in 1990.
“With all that I had to go through. My current setbacks are not much compared and consider it a challenge.
“But I would like to thank all those generous people and community who have helped me out so far and continue to do so.”
Avneesh Vincent is the crime and emergency services reporter at the Advocate. He was previously at the Gisborne Herald as the arts and environment reporter and is passionate about covering stories that can make a difference. He joined NZME in July 2023.