Anne River Hut - StJames Walkway

Can someone enlighten me... Does DoC clean chimneys in DoC huts? A tramping buddy of mine tells me of the close call he had with his petrol stove in a hut...he nearly burnt it down, he reckons. Candles often leave a telltale charring. Some hunters hung a gas lantern on the porch of the reasonably new Long Harry hut on Stewart Island a couple of years ago, resulting in a bit of carpentry.

Well anyone who rents out any place with a chimney without looking after it - and that especially includes cleaning it regularly and professionally to prevent chimney fires - is playing with their customer's lives and WILL have legal consequences if, or more correctly, when it costs someone's life. No one will talk their way out of that one. In that regard, the incident mentioned above was an extremely close call for DOC if they indeed didn't make sure the chimney was cleaned regularly. Of course, they might have contracted that job out, in which case the legal responsibility is not so clear. Cheers, Matt

Wilderness have an article on their web site with speculation as to the cause. Foul play not suspected. https://www.wildernessmag.co.nz//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=110&Itemid=37

Hi again, calling that article speculation is putting it mildly I think. To me, that sounds very much like DOC is trying hard to distract from the fact that it was a CHIMNEY FIRE, whitnessed by a whole group of people when it happened, and that a chimney fire is not caused by the user of the fireplace or logburner, but by the absence of proper chimney maintenance and cleaning. I would really like to know if there is any investigation by a neutral party, such as the fire services. "Ashes from a steel bucket on the veranda have blown into the hut and caused the fire." Yeah right. Have you ever tried to make a fire? Try lighting up big logs and floorboards of a hut by scattering even glowing embers onto them, let alone ashes that hold even less heat. I am no fire investigator, but I have plenty experience with starting fires and am pretty sure that any investigator would laugh at this explanation given by DOC. PLEASE, do read the account of events written by the leader of the group WHO WAS THERE WHEN IT HAPPENED - repeated link follows below (scroll down to the comments of the article): http://www.windy.gen.nz/index.php/archives/273#comment-11747 Disclaimer: I think DOC is doing a superb job of most things they do. I also think that they do make some pretty serious mistakes. That in itself is not a problem and is to be expected in any large and / or complex organisation that has to integrate lots of different and often contradictory interests. The problem lies in not dealing with mistakes in an open and active way. Trying to weasel your way out of it will only reinforce the message to everyone involved, in this case especially whoever SHOULD have made sure that the chimney was maintained properly, that it's ok to be slack and that there won't be any consequences if you mess up because you're not doint your job properly. Matt

Hi Matt. The link that I posted to the comment on my blog was regarding a fire at Heritage Lodge in the Ruahine Range back in 2005. Wilderness and pmcke are referring to the much more recent Anne River Hut fire on the St James Walkway. I mentioned it was a different fire next to the link, but apologies if I didn't clearly make the distinction from the Anne River Hut fire in the title of this thread.

Hi everyone again, I need to clear up an error I made: I mixed up the report about the chimney fire in the Heritage Lodge in the Ruahines in 2005 with the recent fire of Anne River Hut on the St James Walkway currently being under investigation, so a lot of my previous comments now don't make a whole lot of sense anymore. That especially means that DOC's statement in the WildernessMag article is clearly not trying to distract from the chimney fire in the Heritage Lodge, as the statement is about the Anne River Hut. My apologies! Nonetheless I still think that DOC's explanation of the Anne River Hut fire - "ashes from the steel bucket on the veranda were blown into the hut and caused the fire" - is hard to believe. Anyone who has ever tried to light a fire knows that hot ashes won't ignite logs and floor boards of a hut, even if you tried. I'm curious to know what the findings of the investigation will be. Again, the DOC statement about Anne River Hut can be found here: https://www.wildernessmag.co.nz//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=110&Itemid=37 Izogi: Thanks for clarifying, but no need to apologise, I should have read your post more carefully... Cheers, Matt