Early on Thursday, Opoho freelance writer and self-described "house husband" Mike Hamblyn emptied ashes from his wood-burner as usual into a plastic wheelie bin below his home.
Later that day he noticed the bin had become very warm, and he made the fateful and "idiotic" decision to open the lid to cool down the ashes, which he believed added oxygen to the fire.
He returned a short time later to find a pile of flaming debris where his bin once stood.
Hot embers and a faint smell of burned plastic remained at Mr Hamblyn’s property yesterday, after he approached the Otago Daily Times to warn others not to repeat his "stupid" mistake.
"I consider myself a smart guy but that’s no insurance against doing stupid things.
"I’m really going to miss that wheelie bin."
Mr Hamblyn, who admitted he had been "getting a lot of stick", said he planned to buy two metal containers for his ashes to replace the incinerated wheelie bin.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand fire risk management officer Mark Bredenbeck, of Dunedin, said the only place for ashes taken from a fire was a metal container.
"Hot ashes need to be placed into a metal receptacles and left at least five days to cool down.
"After five days you can put some water on it and dispose of them normally.
"Don’t use plastic receptacles, plastic bags, even cloth bags — I’ve seen a lot of people use cloth bags.
"And it needs to be placed away from any combustible materials ... Don’t stick the container on the back porch."
