Payment details for the Nelson family
10 January 2019The funds will now be paid into Jotham's account as Helena's documents were lost in the fire.
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House Fire guts family home in Oamarau
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More Information from the ODT
27 December 2018A boxing Day fire destroyed a Reed St home yesterday and left the Oamaru single mother-of-three who lived there ''absolutely gutted''.
Helena Nelson had been away from the house for 20 minutes and returned to see it engulfed in flames.
She spoke to the Otago Daily Times with tears in her eyes. Presents she had just given her two young girls had been destroyed and her 17-year-old son was being treated for burns at Oamaru Hospital.
''It's Christmas time. It's supposed to be a happy time,'' she said.
Her son was inside when the fire broke out - she believed he was sleeping - but he escaped before fire crews arrived.
Ms Nelson had prevented her girls (6 and 10) from leaving their new scooters outside in case they were stolen. Instead, they were destroyed by fire.
Oamaru Volunteer Fire Brigade station officer Mark Bradford said the fire was ''as bad as it gets''.
''When we got here, the whole house was just fully involved - it was just a wall of flame,'' he said.
Reed St between Exe and Nen Sts was closed to vehicles from about 2.45pm to 5.15pm as up to 30 firefighters mopped up hot spots.
Sergeant Tony Woodbridge, of Oamaru, said police were treating the fire as suspicious and asked anyone with information to contact them.
He said the 17-year-old youth was taken to Oamaru Hospital with serious injuries.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand fire-risk management officer Mark Bredenbeck said police believed they knew how the fire started. He was called to ''make sure that cause fits with what happened at the scene''.
Due to the extent of the damage, it was not safe to go inside the house and he would conduct an ''exterior examination only''.
''I am in shock. I'm just absolutely gutted. Everything is gone.''
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