It was a knock on the door with someone telling him to evacuate which alerted Port Hills resident Logan Foreman to the raging fire near his home.
He could only smelled smoke at first, but when he looked outside, Foreman saw the flames from a large scrub fire behind his property.
“From the house they looked real close. They were real big.”
Foreman, who lives on Port Hills Road, is one of dozens of residents evacuated as fire engulfed the Christchurch hills.
Homes along Avoca Valley Road and Port Hills Road were evacuated overnight.
Forty-five fire fighters are working to contain a large scrub fire which broke out overnight near the suburb of Hillsborough.
“I kinda panicked a bit. Only took my phone and what I’m wearing. Didn’t take anything else,” Foreman said.
“Then just been kinda sitting on the road, watching, ever since. I’ve got about 20 minutes sleep.”
He’s now waiting for the all-clear from police to return home to get some shut-eye.
A police spokesperson said they couldn't confirm exactly how many people were evacuated because the situation was "still very much fluid". They did confirmed people from 40 properties were evacuated overnight.
Eight properties on Port Hills Road still can't be accessed, the spokesperson said.
Fifty fire fighters battled the blaze which scorched the Christchurch hills overnight.
Police also confirmed no homes were lost. However, one cabin, understood to be an old art studio, had been lost in the fire.
Yesterday's fire comes after several suspicious fires were reported in the hills two days ago, believed to have been deliberately lit.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand Area Commander Dave Stackhouse said fire investigators were currently trying to work out how the fire started, and had "good, positive leads".
Area Commander Dave Stackhouse says the area is near the reservoir on the hills.
"We've identified some areas of interest ... [fire investigators] look at the indicators of where the fire started and track back to what we call a point of origin, and we know where that is."
Stackhouse said the fire started near the reservoir in the hills.
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