The quick-thinking actions of a Macandrew Bay gallery owner armed with a pair of fire extinguishers meant no artworks were destroyed when an early morning blaze erupted at his business.
A Fire and Emergency NZ spokeswoman said that about 6am on Monday, crews from the Dunedin, St Kilda and Portobello stations were called to Bellamys Gallery in Portobello Rd, Macandrew Bay, after reports of smoke billowing from the building.
On arrival, they found a fire in the roof and in a switchboard.
Firefighters worked to contain the blaze and bought it under control about 6.40am. It was fully extinguished by 8.30am.
"When I got here, it was flaming to the top of the room," he said.
He immediately jumped into action to contain the fire as best he could until firefighters arrived.
"I used two fire extinguishers, and I just kept shooting it ... for long enough till the fire brigade got here and could take over — and by God, those fellas were good," he said.
The fire, thought to be electrical, damaged a section of a wall and part of the roof.
Mr Bellamy said "by some miracle", no art was burnt in the blaze, not even the painting mere centimetres from the fire.
If he did not have fire extinguishers, if Macandrew Bay did not have caring neighbours who knew to call him and if the firefighters had not arrived when they did, it would have been a totally different story, he said.
"This place would have been a crisp, it would have just been destroyed."
One of the works, Earnslaw on Lake Wakatipu, by his wife, Pauline, was "a hair width" away from the flames, yet "miraculously survived".
He said the experience made him realise what a lucky city Dunedin was to have such caring neighbours and such a "fantastic firefighting force".
At the end of it all, the owner of the Duck cafe a few stores down bought out about 30 coffees for the firefighters on scene.
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