Ruud Kleinpaste – aka 'The Bug Man” - is flying back to Christchurch from Tauranga this morning, unsure exactly what he will find, after learning his wife had been evacuated from their Kennedy Bush home.

'As far as I know, our home is OK at the moment but I can't wait to get back to find out what's happened,” he told SunLive from the Tauranga Airport this morning.

Ruud was in the city as MC for last night's Bay of Plenty Young Grower of the Year awards and it was early in the evening he learned his home of just two weeks was under threat.

'We saw the fire start on Monday night as we looked down on Early Valley Road – it was just a tiny fire but within five minutes it was spreading rapidly.”

Ruud's home is a 'lovely old home with some seriously good land, ideal for gardening – but I guess that is all black now”.

In February 2011, the Kleinpastes moved to Halswell, Christchurch, shortly before the major earthquakes in the city.

'We were very lucky that our house was not too badly damaged – but now we've moved again and we have fires – it's a bit like history repeating itself.”

Ruud says he knew the area around his home was dry – he'd been watering the garden – but he never expected such extensive and destructive fires would happen.

At last night's awards, Ruud performed his MC duties with professionalism, and his classic light-hearted and entering manner.

He also presented an address, accompanied by slides, called 'Bugs in Our System” during which he talked about the vital roles bugs play in the environment as part of nature's circular system in which nothing is wasted, and how fragile Earth's environment is.

This morning Ruud says he fears the very unusual fires in Christchurch are symptomatic of climate disruption in which extremes of rainfall and drought and high and low temperatures are becoming more common.

'Everything seems to be turned upside down. Each and every one of us has got to start taking responsibility for the environment.

'Our economic model is linear, not circular. Growth at all costs is not working. We have to learn to live within our means for the health and future of our planet – it's the only one we have.”

Ruud flew out wishing he could take today's Bay of Plenty rain with him.