‘We had to get out’: Woman loses container home in Port Hills fire

Thursday, 15 February 2024

• One home has been lost in the Port Hill fire to date.

• Anna Sparks was only able to take few possessions with her when she was evacuated on Wednesday.

• Sparks has been staying with family since her home was destroyed.

At least one home has been lost in the Port Hills fire.

Anna Sparks, 36, says her container home was incinerated by the flames.

Granted access for a short time on Thursday afternoon, Sparks was still trying to take it all in.

With little time to take possessions from the home she rented from her grandfather, she was forced to leave with just a few clothes.

Then she came back to nothing.

Now homeless, Sparks has been temporarily staying with her Mum, but she wants to get back to her family’s special property, high on the hills that overlook Christchurch.

That’s because her grandmother and her great grandparents are buried there.

Thankfully their burial plots and her grandfather’s home were untouched.

“I was prepared for it,” Sparks told Stuff. “I knew the flames were going to come up and take my place.”

But Sparks remains thankful that none of her relatives or grandfather’s alpacas were hurt.

“It’s all just stuff.”

Still worried about what tonight may bring, Sparks takes comfort in knowing fire crews use the track to her house for access.

“So they’ll protect the land.”

Even so she’s wary, having seen how close the flames were to the property on Thursday afternoon.

“They told us we had to get out.”

So Sparks left the alpacas and hoped they would survive the night.