Families lose everything in horror fires | Northland News | Local News in Northland

Three house fires in just over 12 hours have left two Northland families homeless.

In two cases, children - one of them just a toddler - are being credited with raising the alarm and saving lives. In the other, a smoke alarm saved five people from what could easily have been a tragedy.

 About 7.30am yesterday a  2-year-old Dargaville boy alerted his mother to a fire that was rapidly engulfing their Jervois St home, forcing the woman, two young children and a teenager to flee by climbing out of a window.

Fire safety officer Craig Bain said flames were already licking the lounge ceiling  when  the boy ran into the hallway and called out to his mother.  The other occupants were in bedrooms and unaware of the danger.

The teenage girl sustained minor burns  when she tried to open the front door. The family scrambled to safety out of a bedroom window instead.

Firefighter Hamish Watson said the house was heavily involved when two Dargaville units arrived from less than a kilometre away. The kauri villa was extensively damaged, with the lounge and kitchen gutted. Neighbouring houses were unaffected.

 Mr Bain said those  in the house were lucky to escape with their lives. The fire had spread rapidly and smoke alarms did not go off. 

 Mr Bain was considering three possible causes - a faulty plug, a cigarette or a child playing with matches or a lighter.

A few hours earlier, a Far North family lost all they owned when their isolated home was razed by fire.

But firefighters say they could have been recovering five bodies if a smoke alarm had not woken the family at Waiotemarama, north of Waipoua Forest, at 4.45am yesterday.

One of the first to arrive was Omapere fire chief Dene Preston, who drove straight from his home in nearby Waimamaku. Even from a distance the glow told him it was too late to save the Pinehill Rd house.

All he could do until the first fire engine arrived was make sure the two adults, two teenage children and  a 4-year-old grandchild were safe. "Saving a shed was all we could do. They've lost everything," Mr Preston said.

"But they had smoke alarms, that's what got them out. The husband was woken up by the alarm, went up the passageway to have a look and was greeted by a wall of flame."

Conditions were "terrible" because the house was up a long muddy drive with no water supply, radio or cellphone coverage. A 5000-litre tank near the house had partly melted, leaving firefighters to ferry water from a dam up the road.

The couple, David and Barbara Bhana, are understood to have relatives in the area to stay with. Mr Bhana's father lives in Omapere and he has a brother in Waimamaku. 

Fire crews from Omapere, Rawene, Kaikohe and the Wekaweka Rural Fire Party fought the blaze. Mr Preston said the mud was so deep that both the Omapere and Rawene brigades had to call on a farmer to tow out their appliances with a tractor. The Kaikohe brigade left theirs on the road.

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

Meanwhile, two Ahipara boys have been credited with saving a house when heat from a chimney flue ignited wooden framing.

Fire chief Rodger Beatson said the fire started about 6.45pm on Monday, upstairs in an A-frame home on Ahipara Rd. Four children were home at the time and their mother was having a shower.

Mr Beatson said two boys, aged about 9 and 12, discovered the fire after smelling smoke and managed to put most of it out.

"Full credit to them. They did everything right, except get out of the building," he said.

 Three fire engines responded.