”We were told that some youths were seen running from the house soon after the smoke was seen and the smoke alarms went off,” the senior firefighter said. ”It was very fortunate the fire was discovered when it was by the alert neighbour.
The incident was being treated as an attempted arson, he said.
Police have an inquiry under way.
Six-mission week for rescue chopper crew
Despite tricky weather conditions, the Trust Tairāwhiti Eastland Rescue Helicopter (EHRT) team successfully completed six missions in the seven days to Sunday.
On the first day of the week, they responded to a medical event at Te Araroa at 1.43pm that day, with the patient flown to Gisborne Hospital in a stable condition.
Just after midday the following day, they transported a patient who was in a serious condition after suffering a medical event, transferring them from Gisborne to Waikato Hospital.
At 2.30pm on May 9 they were back in the air, responding to a trauma at Ruatōria, where the patient was flown to Gisborne Hospital in a stable condition.
On Saturday, May 11, the team were recalled to Ruatōria, again in response to a trauma, with the patient flown in serious condition to Gisborne Hospital.
On Sunday they completed two missions. The first (12.06pm) was transporting a patient who had suffered a medical event from Gisborne to Waikato Hospital. The second was at 4pm, when they flew direct from Hamilton to a medical event in Wharekahika/Hicks Bay, from where the patient was taken to Gisborne Hospital in a serious condition.
”While the service was originally founded to carry out lifesaving work in rural and remote areas, hospital transfers - contracted by Te Whatu Ora - are also a critical part of the team’s work,” EHRT chair Patrick Willock said.
”It means vulnerable patients can be transported directly from one hospital’s door to another, reducing trauma at what might be one of the most challenging times of their lives.”
Bluffs repair work under way
Tiniroto and Hangaroa residents have welcomed the start of work to eventually reopen the Tiniroto Road at the Hangaroa Bluffs near Gisborne - at least on a temporary basis.
That section of the road has been closed by Gisborne District Council since Cyclone Gabrielle due to the reported unstable nature of the Bluffs.
Residents there have been impacted by the closure, which has forced them to either travel via the Parikanapa Road to Gisborne, or travel via Wairoa.
Council contractors have started rock scaling and demolition work at Bluff 3 to remove overhanging rocks, loose rock and boulders to help reduce the risk of rock falls.Another team will work concurrently on Bluffs 1 and 2 to repair damage.
”The work is expected to take approximately four weeks,” the council said in a statement. “Once the road is safe to reopen, additional work may occur there under stop/go traffic management. Options for the long solutions include rebuilding the existing route or a new bypass of Bluffs 1 and 2 that crosses the Hangaroa River.”
Concerned resident Alex Campbell said the local community would welcome the move to get the road reopened on a temporary basis.
“Any progress is welcome, but we are still wondering why there have been no plans to reopen the Bluffs permanently, which is something the community wants to see.“
Campbell told the Gisborne Herald yesterday the community wanted to keep moving in a fair and reasonable fashion.
”There is still some anxiety about the long-term plan for the road and the community also questions the logic of spending a lot of money on investigating a new bypass.”
Not quite top dogs in South Island champs
Poverty Bay dog triallists Leo Edginton, Merv Utting and Laurence Rau made the podium in the final two events on the programme at last week’s South Island Championships in Blenheim.
Edginton and his dog Larry finished runners-up in the long head, with scores of 95 points in qualifying and 94.5 in the final run-off.
He and his other dog, Roxy, were seventh in that final.
Rau and Kip were runners-up in the short head and yard with scores of 93 and 79. Utting and Guy were third with scores of 95.5 and 62.75.
$16,500 Lotto win to Gisborne
A Gisborne Lotto player who bought a ticket for Saturday night’s draw was one of 24 lucky players to win $16,948 each in the Second Division draw.
The local player bought their ticket from Lytton West Post and Lotto.
