Peter Fordyce Gutsell

Interviewer: Nancy Burnett

Abstracter: Lindsay King

First interview: 26 May 2009

DISC 1: TRACK 1

00.00 Interview identification

00.43 PETER FORDYCE GUTSELL born in 1944

00.57 Interview agreement

01.30 Living at 7 Mary Street, OTAUTAU at the time of the FLOOD - with wife and youngest son DAVID - Older son LINDSAY in Invercargill.

2.08 Occupation BRICKLAYER - details

2.14 Self employed from October 1966

2.20 Left school 1959 - worked with HARRY MCDONALD - then 'BOMBER' BROWN - details

2.50 Mentions - ALLAN STEARNE, GEORGE STEARNS

3.17 No apprenticeship for BRICKLAYER - explains

2.27 COMMUNITY involvement - FIRE BRIGADE joined March 1973 - called to help during flood - voluntary - 25 members - details

4.56 FLOOD details - 26 January - "rain wasn't normal" - "it kept and coming" - 6 inches of rain in INVERCARGILL - 24 inches in FIORDLAND - in millimetres, "the best part of a fair bit".

6.07 Signs of flooding - people moving about - phone going - WALLACE COUNTY COUNCIL meeting - CIVIL DEFENCE getting a plan together - ROYCE EVANS engineer controller for WALLACE area - the site of OTAUTAU established - explains

7.35 New BRIDGE over OTAUTAU STREAM compounded problem - built 1963 - explains

8.37 OTAUTAU BRIDGE - railing trapped dead sheep and logs - details

9.25 9.30am CIVIL DEFENCE SIREN rung continuously - fire brigade assembled

10.22 Selfs role - look after Northern part of town - assist elderly out of their houses - assisted by GREG BOYLE - people reluctant to leave homes - recalls

13.22 Story about, "big black fins popping out of the flood water" - tarseal being torn off road - recalls

13.48 Culverts under the road - IAN WATSON'S area - 2 bumps in the road a bridge buried under the road - recalls

15.00 End of Track 1

DISC 1: TRACK 2

00.23 The FLOOD - self assembled at fire station - first job door knocking - warn the people - plan developed by fire chief - explains

02.41 Second job to protect the gear - lifted freezers - waste of time as most freezers tipped up in flood

04.18 Story about farmer trapped on bonnet of tractor in BAYSWATER - radioed to INVERCARGILL - rescued by helicopter

05.29 FLOOD went through OTAUTAU quite quickly - explains

05.56 Being local helped when getting people out of their homes - explains

06.53 Secured property - televisions on tables etc - lots of property saved - explains

07.54 Self's home - son and wife saved some gear - 250 mm went through the house - details

09.30 Town cut in half - two nights - self and six others stayed in EASSON homestead - got food from NORTH END MILK BAR - explains

11.52 Story about bottles from a SCOUTS bottle drive - self watching flood waters from house - "The water came round the corner in a rush and all these beer bottles came around the corner like soldiers" - describes

13.29 Other duties for FIRE BRIGADE - assisting POLICE - kept an eye out for people wandering after evacuation - details

14.43 Work started when the water went away - pumping out garages - explains

14.59 End of Track 2

DISC 1: TRACK 3

00.03 Feather weight pumps used - 3 or 4 men to carry - sometimes pumping out water was a waste of time - explains

02.03 A lot of septic tanks got 'cleaned out' during flood - explains

02.30 26 January the rain started - 1st February 4 pm finished with pumps and had them packed up ready to go back to DUNEDIN - Self's birthday

03.45 Ladies branch of the FIRE BRIGADE - catering - supported men after fires - wives and girlfriends of brigade members - had a good input - describes

05.46 FIRE STATION flooded - in engine bay - concrete floors - "the water came in and the water went out".

06.40 Story about selfs fence - recalls

07.13 Community atmosphere - everybody on one level - "got on like a house on fire".

07.48 Story about drunk man on railway line - recalls

09.49 Story about goat on a mound surrounded by water - recalls

10.49 Story about BILL BEKHUIS in his garage - recalls

12.14 Story about helicopter assistance for BARNEY MCCOLL - RICHARD MILLS AND BILL BLACK pilots - recalls

13.44 Stress support provided by COMMUNITY WORKERS - describes

15.00 End of Track 3

DISC 1: TRACK 4

00.02 Mentions RED CROSS

00.35 The FIRE BRIGADE boys - helping clean up after flood - FARMERS got behind the locals - community spirit.

02.10 Homes affected by FLOOD - 229 calls to FIRE BRIGADE for help during the time - “reading from my notes now” - 900 homes evacuated in INVERCARGILL, 135 homes in OTAUTAU and 60 in TUATAPERE - total damage to property estimated by the INSURANCE industry to be in excess of $50,000,000.

03.32 21 out of 25 FIRE BRIGADE members homes affected - highest of any brigade around.

04.07 Sunday 29 January 1984 relief crews from RIVERTON and MOSSBURN moved into OTAUTAU - so local crew could attend to damage to their own homes.

04.52 Wives at home dealt with home situation while men helped out in the community - explains

06.23 Mentions - No lives lost.

06.38 1987 FLOOD almost as severe - explains

07.08 Previous experience of 1984 FLOOD used during 1987 FLOOD - explains

08.03 Self cut the FISH PLATES of RAILWAY LINE at the SCHOOL crossing - stopped the trains - explains

10.17 Story involving JACK HEADLEY - recalls

11.34 Mentions extra span on the BRIDGE

11.52 Modern BRIGADE formed in 1947/8 by ROY WALKER - 15 or 16 local men - describes

12.24 Story of old FIRE BRIGADE use of a pipe from the river to fight fires - explains

14.33 Story about ALLAN MILLER - recalls

15.00 End of Track 4

DISC 1: TRACK 5

00.02 Story about ALLAN MILLER and weedkiller continued - recalls

00.35 Story about the swiftness of the water - recalls

01.20 Mentions tarseal torn off the road

02.28 Story about BILL ROGERS fence - recalls

03.30 MCALISTER'S SHOP flooding - details

04.15 Looking at a photograph of water coming down MAIN STREET - details

04.45 Outside WALLACE COUNTY building surrounded by water - people in control slept there - FIREMEN slept at the STATION too - explains

05.49 AIRFORCE played apart - evacuees stayed at the GOLF CLUB - explains

06.49 Rescue from NORTH OTAUTAU - explains

07.45 Selfs caravan and glass house damaged - details

09.16 Album of photos taken by self - explains

9.58 FORESTRY workers did a great job of pumping out water - explains

11.08 Mentions 25 years or more since the flood.

11.38 End of Track 5