Games champ praises firefighters' medal rescue

Tony Ebert’s Shore home is largely destroyed but he’s thankful his family and his Games medals are safe

Former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Tony Ebert has praised firefighters' efforts to retrieve his medals and sporting memorabilia after a fire destroyed most of his multimillion-dollar Auckland home.

The weightlifter's Campbells Bay home, which he shares with his wife, Jenni, was badly damaged after a fire broke out on Thursday night, started by a "rogue spark" from a barbecue.

By the time firefighters arrived at the couple's Beach Rd home about 8pm, it was fully ablaze.

Mr Ebert, who is now in real estate, won gold at the Games in Christchurch in 1974 in the men's middleweight division. Four years earlier, at Edinburgh, he won silver.

He also competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.

His wife, who also competes in weightlifting, won gold at the 2009 World Masters Games in Sydney.

Mr Ebert said the head fireman offered to retrieve memorabilia belonging to the couple from the flames - including certificates, photos and medals - once the fire was contained.

"They were unbelievably professional, it was so, so, so good.

"We got Jenni's gold medal ... and my medals out so that was nice ... they've got a lot of sentimental value."

But Mr Ebert was disappointed to lose other treasured belongings.

"We lost a lot of precious things that have got more sentimental value than money value, which was a shame."

Mr Ebert said he had been preparing a barbecue with his wife.

"I went out to put on the gas barbecue ... I have two bottles there but the gas was all gone."

He instead built a fire in one of his manual barbecues, as he had done for 27 years, and kept a close eye on it as he cooked.

"I put the meat on, cooked the meat and then went into the lounge," Mr Ebert said.

"We got about three minutes through having two pieces of meat and my wife looked up to the kitchen and the flames were above the house.

"They were huge flames on the deck outside and starting to engulf the kitchen. We didn't hear any noise or anything, or smell anything."

Mr Ebert said fire crews told him they believed the fire had started from a "rogue spark" off the barbecue.

"[The spark] went down below the deck and could have been smouldering there and then the wind obviously came ... fanned it, and it just exploded."

He said although it was a terrible experience, all that mattered was that he, his wife and three cats were fine.

The house, on a steep cliff overlooking the Hauraki Gulf, was partly propped up on poles.

The flames were beginning to damage the poles, putting the structure at risk of collapsing, which meant firefighters had to take great care when entering the property.

Mr Ebert said although two-thirds of the house was damaged in the fire, he and his wife intended to rebuild it.

The 2246sq m home - which had a capital valuation of $3,625,000 last year - had four bedrooms and one bathroom, QV said on its website.

Although the couple had full insurance cover, a large number of friends, including TV3 news presenter Hilary Barry, have offered them a place to stay.

"I have had an enormous number of friends ring and offer us their homes as they are away on Auckland Anniversary weekend."

Fire investigators would work to establish exactly what caused the blaze.