Saved by fast action

A quick-thinking Carterton man saved a shed and house bus from a fire which gutted his aluminium boat this week.

Resident Simon Robertson heard a large bang while having a coffee in his Mangatarere Valley Rd home about 9pm on Wednesday.

"I don't know whether it was the fuel blowing up or the tyre," he said.

"I thought it was the neighbours shooting rabbits or something ... then I saw the flames licking up through the top of the boat."

Mr Robertson went out to the shed while his wife called the fire brigade.

"I hooked the 4WD on to it and pulled it out of the shed," he said. "I was going to lose the boat and the shed and the [house] bus."

He had extinguished most of the fire with a garden hose by the time the fire brigade arrived.

The fire had been caused by a welding spark, he said.

Mr Robertson, a keen fisherman, built the boat about 25 years ago.

He said the boat was "buggered" and most of the equipment inside it burnt.

The house bus had superficial damage.

Carterton fire chief Wayne Robinson said it was lucky Mr Robertson heard the tyre explode, "or else it would have been a totally different story".