December 1, 2008

Fifteen-year-old Nick Sutton could only watch in dismay as his bedroom burnt to the ground yesterday.
Inside was $6000 worth of cycling equipment, including his most treasured possession, a custom-made track bike given to him by his coach.
The Francis Douglas Memorial College student had been swimming at the river with family and friends when they got a call about 5.30pm saying Nick's sleep-out was on fire.
The family raced back to their Hill Rd home in Egmont Village, but it was too late.
As Nick got out of the car, still wearing a towel, the firefighters were dousing the last of the flames and the sleep-out was a black, smoking, skeleton.
'The fire trucks passed us on the way and we thought, 'Oh no',' Nick said.
'We could see the smoke from the top of Burgess Park Hill and Dad said, 'That must be our house.''
Nearly everything in Nick's room was destroyed, despite the New Plymouth Fire Brigade containing the blaze within minutes after arriving.
'My stereo, my dehumidifier, I've got about 100 bike magazines in there,' he said.
'The track season has just started . . . I was supposed to be going to Wanganui but I guess I won't be doing that now.'
Two cars belonging to the family were also burnt beyond repair.
Nick's father and owner of the home Murray Sutton said he thought a spark from rubbish burning in a drum nearby had probably caused the fire.
'It could have been a lot worse,' he said. The sleep-out was next to an implement shed, and about 10 metres from the main house, but neither was damaged.
Mr Sutton had yet to tell his wife, who was driving back from a weekend away in Palmerston North, about the blaze.
'I don't think she'll want to go away again. That's what happens when you leave the boys at home for the weekend.'