Te Puke arson attack leaves mum and tot homeless

An arsonist has destroyed a house and left a mother and her 3-year-old daughter with little more than the clothes they were wearing.
Fire ripped through the woman's rented Harris St home in Te Puke at 3.51am on Saturday and firefighters say they had little chance of saving it.
Police say the arson is domestic related and a 22-year-old man has been charged.
Mary Buchanan, 29, said earlier on Friday she had been threatened with a knife by someone she knew as she sat in the driver's seat of her car.
She went and stayed the night at a friend's place and the house was torched that night.
The tragedy was a blow for Miss Buchanan, who said she had been getting her life back on track for the past three years after eight years of being addicted to methamphetamine.
She was renting the Te Puke property after previously living in a car.
Miss Buchanan has lived in the Harris St house with daughter Englysh, 3, and boarder Sheree Waterhouse, for a year and a half.
Miss Buchanan told the Bay of Plenty Times she had lost just about everything and would have to start from scratch.
She does not have contents insurance.
"All I have is the clothes that were on my back, same with my daughter. I don't know how to process it. It's really hard to explain, it's confusing. I lost my dad's carvings he did for me in jail, and a jewellery box he made me, my grandmother's cabinet and my grandfather's wardrobe he got for serving in the World War II 19th battalion. I'm totally gutted, there's nothing in there that's salvageable.
"I have a bed and lounge suite in the shed so at least I've got a bed.
"I loved the house, it was so welcoming."
Miss Buchanan said she was determined to fight back from this.
The house was yesterday cordoned off with New Zealand Fire Service tape and guarded by a security officer.
Neighbours, who spoke on condition they were not identified, told the Bay of Plenty Times they called 111 after their dog started barking and alerted them to an "orange light" through trees outside.
A woman said she heard a car hit the curb and "zoom off" shortly before the fire began.
Te Puke Fire Brigade deputy chief Dale Lindsay said firefighters initially believed someone was inside the house when they got the emergency call.
Upon entering the front door, the heat was so intense, firefighters had to retreat.
The heat ruined one firefighter's helmet with the visor completely blackened.
A second crew was sent in to give the first group of firefighters a break and they stayed inside for less than five minutes before returning outside where up to 15 firefighters worked for more than four hours to dampen the blaze.
Roofing material was lifted in the process.
The fire is understood to have started in the a lower bedroom at the bottom of the split level, open-plan house.
"It acted as a chimney and whipped it [the fire] right through the house," Mr Lindsay said. "I wouldn't expect the house to be repaired. It was going too well ... and flashed over just as we got there.
"There's virtually nothing that can be saved from that house because of the heat and smoke damage. It's a very old house with solid timber."
Te Puke police Detective Sergeant Nigel Grey said the arrested man was to appear in Tauranga District Court today.
He was found at a nearby property late on Saturday morning, not far from the Harris St address.
Saturday's fire was the second house fire in Te Puke this month.
On May 2, rats chewing through wiring caused the fire that destroyed a home on No 1 Rd.
The family woke to the sound of explosions in enough time to escape as neighbours called 111.