Precious mementos go as fire guts Bay home

A young Tauranga family have "lost absolutely everything" after a lit cigarette left next to a couch destroyed their home.
The blaze, believed to have started in the garage, engulfed the Gate Pa residence about 8.40pm last evening _ a fire the Tauranga Fire Service believes could have easily resulted in the loss of life.
A man, who does not live at the property, is alleged to have left the cigarette by the couch and walked off, only to return five minutes later to see the couch and furniture next to it on fire.
Sifting through the charred remains of his Burns St flat this morning, Chris Taylor said his family were left with just the clothes on their backs.
"We have lost absolutely everything ... it's all pretty much gone. Our clothes, all our kids' stuff, our couches, my grandmother's heirlooms ... everything.
"The only thing we have left are the clothes we are wearing and they all stink."
He said while "all the material stuff can obviously be replaced, that's the easy part" there were many mementos that were gone for good.
"All my daughter's kindergarten stuff is gone."
Unfortunately the family, who were living in the top storey of the house, were uninsured.
Firefighters spent three hours at the scene of the fire last night, with residents in both the upstairs and downstairs flats having to stay with neighbours until it was decided when or if they would be able to return.
Mr Taylor, a 32-year-old student, told the Bay of Plenty Times both he and his partner and, their two children had only been living at the address since the beginning of this year.
"It's mum's place and we have been staying with her for a while. Pretty much all of our stuff was stored in the garage," he said sadly.
It was while visiting his mother, who is currently a patient at Tauranga Hospital, that disaster struck. He arrived home about an hour later.
"I wasn't even here at the time I was visiting mum. But my partner, aunty and two kids were.
"My partner heard a noise, a bang and went downstairs to see what was happening."
Upon entering the garage she saw flames engulfing the garage and raised the alarm in the downstairs flat before getting her own family out, he said.
"Luckily my partner was able to get everyone out in time."
But Tauranga senior station fire officer Grant Taylor said had the fire taken hold while the family was asleep then someone would most certainly have died.
He said hard lessons needed to be learnt from the blaze as the family's smoke alarm did not have a battery in it. The downstairs flat, occupied by three adults and two children, did not even have an alarm.
It was the second time in less than a week that Tauranga fire crews have gone to a fire in which a smoke alarm has not been fitted in a property.
"Firstly, people need to be more aware when they smoke by a couch not to leave it.
"Had it been three hours later when the family was asleep, we would be talking about fatalities," he said.