Christchurch firefighters are battling a blaze in a home in the suburb of Bishopdale. Photo: RNZ/Nathan McKinnon
The neighbour of a man who escaped a house fire in Christchurch this morning recalls hearing a "large boom" at the time.
Emergency services, including five fire crews, responded to the blaze in a two-storey home in Bishopdale's Clotilda Place on Tuesday morning, finding the house in flames when firefighters arrived, about 9.30am.
Simonne Hamman, who lives two sections down, said her kitchen window looks directly onto the man's property.
"I was just cooking a late breakfast and then I heard this massive boom," she said.
"Then I look out the window and this massive fire just erupts from his garage and billows of black smoke in to the air."
"So I just yelled to my family: 'Fire!' Poor things thought the fire was in our house."
Smoke rising out of the damaged building. Photo: RNZ/Nathan McKinnon
Hamman then ran down the driveway and called emergency services, who had already been alerted.
When the first fire crew arrived at the scene, they needed help to "get the hoses out".
"I helped pull the hoses out in my sandals.
"They needed help so they could connect it to the fire hydrant.
"It was just the two of them who just happened to be driving past."
The man who was "hard of hearing" managed to escape his home that was engulfed in flames, Hamman said.
"He didn't hear the explosion and wasn't aware that the fire was going on until his neighbours alerted him.
"They got him out okay and he had a friend with him and managed to get his dog out.
"He's got a peacock, I haven't seen the peacock come out yet, but I'm sure the peacock is fine.
Upset and shaken, the man tried to "hurry" firefighting efforts up.
"They have their processes and have to do things methodically.
"The police came to calm him down."
Photo: RNZ/Nathan McKinnon
Another three firefighting crews then converged on the cul-de-sac.
The man did not require any medical attention.
By early Tuesday afternoon, one Fire and Emergency crew and two fire investigators were at the scene.
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