Download PDF: Issue 9 - New Zealand Fire Service

Monstrous crane crashes
into Wellington house
Wellington students got the fright, and narrow escape,
of their lives when a massive crane toppled down a
bank and crashed into their house.
Blue watch Karori 261 and City 217 were not prepared
for what confronted them on arrival. Karori senior
fi refi ghter Alan Megennis says the 25 tonne crane was not
quite the “small” machine they had expected. “It was a
monstrosity.”
The crane had been on the bank above the back of the
house removing a big tree by sections, when the weight
and angle of the tree dragged the machine over and down.
The driver was thrown out as tree and crane
smashed into the house,
taking out a concrete
retaining wall on the way.
There were no injuries.
Alan says the students in
the house had a lucky
escape, because had the
tree and/or crane crashed
into the house in slightly
different positions, the
kitchen and back door
would have been demolished.
As it was the empty basement
took the brunt of the impact.
Quad bike destroys house
A quad bike caused this fi re which
destroyed a home in Rotorua.
All the contents were destroyed
after the bike, which was in
a a shed, caught fi re. The fi re
spread to the house. Four crews
from Rotorua and Ngongotaha
attended.
Incidents
Photos senior fi refi ghter Alan Megennis.
The New Zealand Fire Service Magazine May/June 2005
Photo courtesy Daily Post
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