Suzanne Emslie will finally get the chance to say thank you to the firefighters who saved her family after the Abbotsford landslip.
However, the firefighters involved said they were just doing what they were trained for.
Today marks 40 years since Miss Emslie (54) and her family were among residents caught up in the Abbotsford slip that began its final movement at 9.07pm on August 8, 1979.
She went public with her experience in Saturday's Otago Daily Times, describing the moment an 18ha, 5 million cu m slab of earth finally broke away after months of cracking, eventually claiming 69 homes.
She watched homes and cars crash down into the widening void, as the slip moved downhill, before a group of firefighters crossed the broken ground in the darkness to rescue them.
Years later, she told the ODT she wanted the chance to say thank you to the ''heroes'' who came to their aid.
The ODT has since contacted two of the three firefighters who led the way - Allan Bridger, Lawrence Smith and Graham Hughes.
Mr Hughes could not be contacted, but Mr Smith (now 71) and Mr Bridger (76) said they were just doing their jobs.
Mr Bridger still clearly remembered arriving at the scene to find electricity linemen up poles, cutting away wires already pulled tight as the land around them moved away.
The lines would be sent ''pinging through everything'' as they were cut, and then a car came crashing out through a closed garage door to escape the growing rift, he said.
''He [the driver] was panicking. He had his family in his car and he was going.''
Mr Bridger remembered approaching the growing chasm and peering over the side, ''and for 30 or 40 feet there was nothing''.
''It was like you'd got a piece of cake and you'd put your knife in it and pushed it away.
''You could see the roofs of houses down there, and as we walked along another house shook off the side and went down there. It just disappeared.
''It was pretty unreal, really.''
Despite the chaos around them, Mr Bridger said the rescue of the stranded residents was ''pretty straightforward, really''.
A rescue helicopter was not immediately available and, with the families deemed to be in danger, Messrs Bridger and Smith were keen to reach them, and were joined by Mr Hughes.
''The way I recall it, me and Alan discussed it and we said, 'Right, we'll go across','' Mr Smith said.
The three firemen set off across broken ground shortly before 11pm, listening to the creaking of damaged homes and trees on what was, by now, a cold and quiet night.
''We played follow the leader.
''All you heard when we got on to the slip and up near to them was the trees rustling,'' Mr Bridger said.
Once over to the Emslies, their neighbours and other residents, the firefighters escorted them back across broken ground to the other side of the slip zone, where firefighters had strung safety ropes.
Mr Bridger did not recall feeling scared, but another firefighter - a Vietnam veteran - was to tell him later it was the scariest experience of his life.
''It was very, very dangerous, where we were at. You don't realise how dangerous it was until you think about it.''
Mr Smith agreed: ''It was just a cold, wet night, and I don't think we had time to be scared, to be honest.
''You were trained to do it, so we did it.''
Another firefighter who attended that night, Errol Thompson (70), arrived to find houses ''rolling in'' to the growing chasm, and power lines ''breaking and coming back at very high speed''.
''If you got hit by one it would cut you in two [and] they were still live,'' he said.
Mr Thompson did not take part in the rescue, but the firefighters who did ''just did their job'', he said.
''We were trained for these situations, we observed as we went, and there was no need to sit down and have a meeting and explain what the risks there might be, or might not be.
''We could see what was in front of us and you had to come up with a solution. That's how it worked,'' he said.
Also, despite the destruction, nature had played its part in ensuring no lives were lost, Mr Thompson believed.
The landslip had moved off slowly, slipping 50m in 30 minutes and opening up a void 16m deep in places between once-connected homes and streets.
''It wasn't a catastrophic 'bang'. If it had of been ... I think we would have seen some casualties.''
