Family climbs from windows to escape burning Far North home
A Far North family of four narrowly escaped their burning home overnight by climbing out the windows.
The blaze took hold at the Kaikohe address about 1am today, with roughly 25 firefighters from the Kaikohe, Ōkaihau, Kawakawa and Kerikeri volunteer brigades sent to the scene.
Water tankers were brought in from the Kerikeri and Kawakawa brigades as there was no reticulated water on site, with crews pumping water from a nearby river.
Kaikohe fire chief Bill Hutchinson said the single-storey home was “burning end to end” when his crew arrived.
“The occupants of the house only just managed to get out through the windows.”
Hutchinson described the family as “so distraught and traumatised” by their ordeal.
“This was so close to four people dying,” he said.
The family had stood in 3C temperatures, wearing the T-shirts they had been sleeping in, watching their home burn.
“It was freezing,” Hutchinson said, adding ice had formed on the fire truck windscreen and on firefighters’ breathing apparatus cylinders.
Hutchinson said he was unsure what had woken the family but they reported having smoke alarms in the home.
Firefighters were able to save vehicles parked near the house, although the keys were inside the home.
“It’s tragic,” Hutchinson said. “As a firefighter you don’t really ever get used to seeing the despair, the loss.”
Particularly when it came to the irreplaceable “treasures”.
“The other side of the story is the personal side for the family that’s lost everything now.”
Crews cleared the scene about 6am, and a fire investigator is working to determine the cause.
Firefighters extinguish the house fire.
The callout was the third structure fire in three weeks for the Kaikohe brigade, following two house fires and a sleepout blaze.
Hutchinson said another house fire about six to eight weeks ago had occurred less than 1km away, starting in a garage.
“That was late in the afternoon, the girl had come home from school, working inside doing her homework and the next minute the whole house was on fire.”
The veteran firefighter, nearing 50 years of volunteering, said such incidents are a reminder fires can happen to anyone and stressed the importance of working smoke alarms.
He said he had attended fatal fires sparked by everyday items, including phone chargers and candles.
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