Nelson bush fire: Couple forced out of home by second natural disaster

Thursday, 7 February 2019

A tornado, ice storms, storm surge; Norm and Christy McCarren are no stranger to natural disasters.

Now they can add wildfires to the list.

The couple has been forced out of their home by the wildfire that has burnt through nearly 2000 hectares of forest near Nelson, almost a year to the day since they fled their rental home when it was flooded by the sea a few kilometres away.

The pair, originally from America, started packing up their car at their rental home in Redwood Valley on Tuesday night about half an hour before the police knocked on their door, telling them to leave.

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Almost a year to the day since Norm and Christy McCarren fled the sea as it flooded their home in Mapua, the couple have been forced out of their home by a wildfire.

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'We live kind of simple so it was easy for us to pack up our van, and just go,' Norm said.

The couple were driving back from Rabbit Island on Tuesday, when they first realised a fire had broken out.

'We thought oh that [smoke] looks like it's over by the paper mill. And then we've taken the turns to our property and we [said], oh now it looks like it's much closer and then we got there and it was in our backyard almost,' Christy said.

The fire was 'huge' with smoke directly over the house, the couple said.

Natural disasters have forced Tasman district residents, Norm and Christy McCarren, from their homes twice within a year.

The pair returned to their cottage yesterday, and threw water on hotspots like fenceposts.

The fire had come within two or three metres of their neighbour's workshop further up the hill, but the treeline and the brush under the trees hadn't burnt, Norm said

'It jumped over the trees and came back down into our paddock, and then burned the paddock.

'It must have been moving really fast.'

In the meantime they were staying with friends in Aniseed Valley.

Last year, they were renting a flat in Mapua, three houses down from the wharf, when ex cylcone Fehi hit, on February 1.

Natural disasters have forced Tasman district residents, Norm and Christy McCarren, from their homes twice in two years.

'We decided to go ahead and pack the van, we moved the van out to the street and it just went from nothing to this deep [he gestured to half way up his thigh] in fifteen minutes,' Norm said.

'We're telling friends … we'll let you know where we'll be next February, and you can take a holiday on the other side of the world.'

The couple have been New Zealand residents since 2006, when they moved here from Atlanta, Georgia.

There, they experienced ice storms, hurricanes and a tornado in 2002.

'We all need to be prepared for more events like this I think,' Norm said.

They were building a house out in Ngatimoti, and their experience in Tasman district so far hadn't put them off their plans.

'This is making us more aware of what we have to do to be prepared,' Christy said.

They also hoped to be able to bring back a fire retardant from America when they visited later this year.

'When a fire is coming you get on top of your house and you spray your house down with it, and it produces a fire retardant barrier on your home,' Norm said.