Man saves wife and daughter from tent fire at Lake Hawea, Otago

Friday, 27 March 2020

The fire occurred in a yurt (pictured), a large tent typically used for glamping. (File photo).

A man has saved his wife and daughter from being seriously burnt after he pulled them out of a burning tent in Otago.

Emergency services were called to the blaze in a yurt, a large glamping tent, off Nook Rd, Lake Hawea about 12.26am on Friday.

A man has saved his wife and daughter from being seriously burnt from the fire at Lake Hawea. (File photo).

Lake Hawea chief fire officer Brent Arthur said a mother and daughter were asleep inside the yurt when it ignited.

The woman's husband pulled the pair out shortly before emergency services arrived.

Emergency services were called to a small blaze in a tent off Nook Rd, Lake Hawea, about 12.26am on Friday. (File photo).

Lake Hawea chief fire officer Brent Arthur says the fire is an urgent reminder to be 'extra vigilant'. (File photo).

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The yurt was fully involved in fire when two crews from Lake Hawea and another from Luggate arrived. The blaze completely destroyed the tent and it spread into several nearby trees but it was extinguished a short time after.

Arthur said early indications suggested the fire was started from a small log burner inside the yurt, which had exits to allow for a log burner, but it 'seemed to go wrong in this case.'

He said the family, who had moved to New Zealand about 10 years ago, had been living on the property with about 15 others for the last few months and were following self-isolation protocols.

The mother had received third-degree burns to her legs and hands, while the husband and daughter received minor burns also to their legs and hands, Arthur said.

A St John spokesman said all three were flown to Dunedin Hospital.

The fire was an urgent reminder to be 'extra vigilant', Arthur said.

'A lot of people at the moment have set up residency [somewhere] that normally wouldn't be used as permanent or long term [accommodation]. They need to make sure they have a really good think about their surroundings [and] how that environment is going to work and be safe or whether they can make changes so it will be.'

It is understood the blaze happened on The Nook property (formally known as the Nook Road Nursery) – a privately owned 15 acre retreat.