Embers that fell from the open door of a fireplace were believed to have been the cause of the fatal house bus fire in 2022. Photo / 123RF
Embers that fell from the open door of a fireplace were believed to have been the cause of the fatal house bus fire in 2022. Photo / 123RF
The remains of artist Patrick Gamble were found beside his rocking chair after a fire in his house bus.
The fire likely started from combustible materials falling out of an open fireplace door.
Coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale noted Gamble had no smoke alarms, hindering his chance of survival.
The burned, skeletal remains of an elderly artist who lived alone in a house bus in a remote corner of the South Island were found beside his favourite rocking chair.
Nearby, the door of the freestanding fireplace was wedged open.
Despite recommendations he should install smoke alarms in thehouse bus, which was parked in dense bush on a six-hectare block of land in Little Wanganui near Karamea, Patrick Gamble refused.
The 80-year-old, Irish-born “creative” who had come to New Zealand in the late 1960s or early 1970s was a known figure in the small West Coast township.
The house bus where he had lived for about 10 years, was also where he died after an intense fire, Coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale said in her findings released today.
She said neither the cause of the fire in November 2022 nor how Gamble died could be determined absolutely.
The human fragments found were small and fire-damaged. Forensic pathologist Leslie Anderson was therefore unable to determine if Gamble had died before the fire (from natural disease or other cause), from smoke inhalation due to the fire, from the heat effects of the fire, or if he had sustained a disabling injury beforehand.
Little Wanganui, near Karamea on the West Coast where Patrick Gamble lived, and died in a house bus. Photo / Mike Dickison, RNZ
Investigators considered the fire was most likely caused by combustible materials falling out of the open fireplace door, which appeared to have been wedged open to improve its draw and heat output.
Around 2am on November 11, 2022, a resident who lived in the area was woken by what she thought were fireworks going off.
Others were alerted to the fire centred in dense bush and called emergency services.
Firefighters arrived within 35 minutes and found a fire had engulfed the house bus.
The following day, fire investigators found human remains in the wreckage, and a duty coroner determined the remains were those of Gamble.
Borrowdale said Gamble was by all accounts a creative man, who had made his home on the isolated property he owned and where he had accumulated various sheds, huts, and house buses.
He had expressed some concerns about making a will and what would happen to the property if he died. He was socially reclusive and had limited interactions with others but his general health was good for a man of his age, she said.
The house bus in which he lived was built of timber framing with wooden walls, covered with a corrugated iron roof around the chassis of a light single-axle truck, which appeared to have been stationary on the site for many years.
There was one entrance and exit.
The first 111 call was made at 2.17am, the first fire appliance arrived at 2.52am and the second at 3.14am.
Borrowdale said access to the scrubland site was challenging, requiring the fire appliances to be parked 200m away and a hose line set up to deliver water to the structure.
There was no suitable water supply on-site, so it was brought in by additional fire appliances.
Specialist fire investigator Craig Piner said in his report to the coroner a recliner chair found at the scene was the chair in which Gamble habitually sat, according to a friend.
It was found facing towards the free-standing fireplace, where the door was found wedged open, which led Piner to believe it was where the fire started.
Borrowdale consulted Fire and Emergency New Zealand which concluded that Gamble could not have been alerted to the fatal fire as he did not have a smoke alarm in the dwelling.
The emergency service calculated that people were four times more likely to survive a house fire if they had a working smoke alarm and recommended that one should be placed in every bedroom and living area.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
