Picking through the ashes

The heartache of losing their home and possessions in a house fire last year remains raw for a Thames couple.

David and Karen Harper were left with a handful of clothes after a blaze reduced their 350-square-metre multi-storey home to charred rubble in July. Mr Harper, an avid collector of anything Italian – including 48 cars, 450 bottles of wine and about 100 cookbooks – has spent the past eight months sifting through the remains in search of anything that might have survived.

A few trinkets and tools were found buried in the rubble and could now end up as ornaments.

Of their 48 cars, 25 were stored on the Kauaeranga Valley property and five were destroyed.

The keys to the surviving cars were in the house and, fortunately, Mr Harper was able to recover most of them.

But the Harpers still had cars they were unable to do anything with because they had no keys and couldn't get into them.

"We did find some keys, but there's about 11 cars that we can't do anything with at all. That's why we need the locksmith up there. We had to find out how to get into the cars because they're Italian – it's not like breaking into a Ford, there's little tricks of turning things."

Mrs Harper is still awe-struck floored by the fire's devastation.

"I was just stunned, just how everything burnt and there was just nothing (left)."

After the fire the Harpers stayed at a neighbour's home before shifting in with another friend, Stephen Cox – "he's an amazing man" – whose house is up the road.

The tight Thames community had rallied around them, whether it was Mrs Harper's kindergarten workmates or friends, family or strangers they bumped into down the street.

"A lot of people came up to me in the street and said `I know how it feels – our house burnt down 10 or 20 years ago'," Mrs Harper said.

Many precious family heirlooms, especially from Mr Harper's side of the family, also went up in smoke.

Mrs Harper said David's sifting through the remains had been good for his healing process.

"He's gone through everything and dug up everything that could possibly be dug up. Some things he's got are all right, like tools and things which were just covered up by ash. So we've had a few exciting finds."

But it remained hard to hide the emotional impact of the fire.

"There are stories that I can't even read to the children. Like now, it's still very close to the surface," she said, choking back tears. "But we just have to get on with it."

The Harpers have decided not to rebuild – there are too many memories and Resource Management Act amendments would require shifting the site 30 metres. The Harpers have about a year's work left to clear the section before they can sell it and move to their bach in Mt Maunganui.

"Our house there needs total renovations because it's a really old place and after that we may end up in Brisbane because my brother is over there," Mrs Harper said.

As for the Italian collection, Mr Harper had been busy spying deals on Trade Me.

"We've started re-buying wine again... David loves Trade Me so has been replacing a lot of our cookbooks. We had over 100 Italian cookbooks. We've probably got about 40 back again."

However, she has drawn the line at replacing any of the Italian cars.

- © Fairfax NZ News