When Kaikōura resident Reneé Davis saw a fire raging through paddocks from her window on Tuesday afternoon, her first thought was for the ponies.
She and her husband Mark got into their car and raced to find them as flames licked nearby trees.
"What we were faced with was unbelievable. There were flames to the top of the trees, the smoke was so thick you couldn't see and we thought they were goners really," she said.
Helen Ngawha, who looks after the ponies. Photo: RNZ/Nathan Mckinnon
After collecting their daughter from school, they decided to try once more.
Davis said her husband, who is a former firefighter, put wet clothes around his face and went in to save the ponies.
"He turned around and gave me the thumbs up, we were ecstatic and we just raced in and chucked halters and anything we had around them and they came out. They were just standing in the creek bed, so the fire had gone all around them," she said.
Reneé Davis with daughters Eilish (L) and Braith (R). Photo: RNZ/Nathan Mckinnon
"They're really sensible little ponies, they are amazing. They had just stood there in the rocks and waited."
The wind was fierce, rolling a motorhome in the middle of the road with traffic banking up as fire raced towards them, Davis said.
She said the couple helped police direct cars away from danger before coming across a man trying to retrieve his boat from a nearby property.
"There were flames this high around him and we quickly drove in and said to him, 'you've got to get out, you have to get out now'. He was almost in a bit of a daze I think because I don't think he could believe what was happening, then the church just went up, everything was happening very, very quickly because the wind was so strong, powerlines shaking, powerlines on fire," she said.
Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Davis and her husband spent most of Tuesday night trying to help crews protect a nearby house, shuttling water back and forth for firefighters.
She's worried what Thursday's predicted gales will do after fires already destroyed five homes.
Kaikōura is under Canterbury's state of emergency and is included in Thursday's red strong wind warning.
Fire and Emergency said fires burning in Kaikōura are contained and evacuated residents have been allowed to return home - but there was a high risk of re-ignition.
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