Community members were quick to rally around the couple yesterday, tending to their needs while baking scones for the firefighters' morning tea.
Mr and Mrs Parker (both 58), were woken at 5am, just before their second-storey apartment filled with smoke from a fire burning through their 1940s Art Deco building.
Ranfurly butcher Graeme Jones was driving to work when he saw the flaming building, on the corner of John and Charlemont Sts.
"I stopped the car, hooted the horn, rang the door bell, belted on the doors and just made a racket until they woke up," he said.
Mr and Mrs Parker, in boxer shorts and nightgown respectively, escaped their apartment unharmed with pet cockatiel Eddy.
Smoke alarms installed in their apartment activated as they left the building.
The couple watched as about 25 volunteer firefighters from Ranfurly, Naseby and Omakau prevented neighbouring buildings from catching fire, while fighting the blaze inside.
"We are by no means destitute.
"It's just the personal things that have gone," Mrs Parker said.
Ranfurly Volunteer Fire Brigade Chief Fire Officer James Hazlett believed it was the largest structure fire in the area in the past 30 years.
Pumps from three appliances were used and a fourth fire engine stayed on site.
Mr Hazlett, of Ranfurly, said the concrete and red brick building complex was "fully involved" when emergency services arrived about 5.15am.
"Flames were going over the top of the building and we couldn't gain access inside.
"To devastate half a block of the town's main street is pretty serious . . .
"We haven't had an industrial fire here for quite some time," he said.
Parts of Charlemont and John Sts were closed to traffic most of the day as Fulton Hogan staff secured the site.
Fire safety investigators from Invercargill began examining the building about mid-morning in an attempt to determine where and how the blaze started.
Those details have yet to be confirmed, although the fire is not being treated as suspicious.
Fire walls partitioned sections of the building, although flames reached Mr and Mrs Parker's apartment via the roof.
Their Ranfurly Auto business downstairs was destroyed, along with about 10 vehicles stored in the garage, including a client's Porsche.
A computer and files were salvaged from the couple's adjoining Ranfurly Bike Hire business, and Mrs Parker said she and the company's two other staff would be able to continue operating from her daughter Sharon's home garage.
"All the phones have been diverted and we have about 50 of our 65 bicycles left, as many were rented out.
"People have booked and paid, so we've just got to do it," Mrs Parker said.
Mr Parker employed another mechanic and two apprentices in the garage, and had been offered at least two premises to run the business temporarily, he said.
"It's absolutely unbelievable; I just can't thank people enough."
The couple were insured.
It was too soon to know the estimated cost of damage.
They owned a rental property in Ranfurly and had also been offered temporary accommodation.
Waipiata resident Debbie Heron had just sold her Salad Bowl business, which she operated out of the Parkers' building.
It was gutted by the fire, which brought back memories of her and her husband's first home burning down in 2007.
"Our main concern was that Dick and Janet were OK.
"We feel for them because it happened to us two and a-half years ago, so it brought it all back, really," Mrs Heron said.
Another adjoining cafe was damaged by smoke and water, although remained structurally intact.
Mr and Mrs Parker had owned the building on Ranfurly's main street since 2003, and had lived in the apartment upstairs for the past four years.
They had lived in Ranfurly for the best part of 25 years, and were being surrounded by supportive community members.
Residents from throughout the Maniototo were quickly spurred into action yesterday, providing bottled water and breakfast for firefighters.
By 9am, a morning tea for all involved had been set up on Ranfurly's main street, and lunch was also provided to those brigade members still hard at work later in the day.
Ranfurly's two Four Square supermarkets supplied food and drink, as did other local businesses and the Ranfurly Lions club.
Victim Support staff were on hand; residents arrived throughout the day asking how they could help; and the local secondhand clothing shop opened early for the Parkers to change out of their nightclothes.
An account at the local Westpac bank branch and donation tins in nearby retail outlets had been set-up by 10am, and some visitors in the town while cycling the Otago Central Rail Trail offered cash donations to the Parkers.
"People have been so incredible.
"I've already got more `smellies' than I normally have," Mrs Parker said.
