Fire family 'lucky to get out'

Fire investigators say a family of five was lucky to escape a house fire on a Waitemata Harbour island as the home lacked smoke alarms.

Four appliances were needed to put out the blaze on Herald Island which began early this morning, fire safety investigator Michael McEnaney told NZPA.

"The house had no smoke alarms and the family were lucky to get out," Mr McEnaney said.

He said the fire appeared to have started from an electrical fault caused by a downlight. Much of the downstairs area suffered significant damage.

In conjunction with the switch to daylight saving time at the weekend the Fire Service has been urging people to install or check their smoke alarms.

Yesterday a family escaped a house fire in Otahuhu, South Auckland thanks largely to smoke alarms, Mr McEnaney said.

He said a father was sleeping around 4pm when the alarms went off. He, his son and wife managed to escape.

"It was an older house and the fire spread very quickly. About 90 per cent of it was damaged," he said.

"But without smoke alarms it could have been worse for the people."

Smoke alarms are also credited with saving the life of a Christchurch woman whose unit was the subject of an arson attack on Saturday.

- NZPA