Family escapes devastating fire at Pickering St home, pet turtle rescued

Fire in this house in Pickering Street yesterday morning caused extensive damage. Fire and Emergency NZ, Kainga Ora and the police are working together to find alternative accommodation for the family, who lost most of their possessions in the fire. Picture by Liam Clayton

A family living in a house in Pickering Street in Kaiti feel they are lucky to all be alive after fire swept quickly through their home.

Fire and Emergency NZ sent three appliances to the property at around 11.15am yesterday.

“The house was well involved when the first crew got there,” said Senior Station Officer Ed Hindmarsh.

“The family inside were alerted by smoke alarms and saw smoke coming from their kitchen.

“They all got out safely,” he said.

A family of five lived in the house.

Three were at home when the fire started — mum, dad and one of their children, a  two-year-old boy.

Their other two sons, aged 11 and 8, were at school.

“We made entry on arrival and were able to

get inside to control the fire quickly,” SSO Hindmarsh said.

It only took the firefighters about 10 minutes to knock the fire back and bring it under control.

“Station Officer Chris Grimson was fighting the fire when he saw the family’s pet turtle in its tank.

“He rescued Ninja the turtle and took it outside to the relieved family.”

Fire crews were there for about two hours cleaning up.

“The fire has caused extensive damage to the house, and it’s not able to be lived in,” SSO Hindmarsh said.

“The smoke damage is 100 percent, and about 40 percent of the house has sustained fire damage.”

SSO Hindmarsh said the fire appeared to have started in the area of the kitchen, although the exact cause has yet to be established.

“It’s not being treated as suspicious.”

The family have lost most of their possessions in the blaze.

“We were able to get some of the household items outside before they were damaged, including of course the turtle.”

FENZ, Kainga Ora and police have been working together to find alternative accommodation for the family.

“We want to ensure the family are supported at this extremely difficult time,” SSO Hindmarsh said.

Ngametua Taumaa said he and his partner Ereti Robin were in the back room of the house watching movies when they heard the smoke alarms going off.

“I went straight to the kitchen to see what was happening,” Mr Taumaa said.

“But there was too much flame for me to deal with, so I got my partner and our young son out of the house to safety.”

None of them were hurt.

“We are all distraught. We have no place to go.

“This just happened out of nowhere,” he said.

“We’re all alive and safe and well,” said Ms Robin.

“We’re lost a lot of our household stuff but those things can be replaced — lives cannot,” she said.

“The more I look at the house though, the more I realise what we have lost.

“But we have to stay positive,” she said.

“We appreciate all the support we’re getting, including from our neighbours.”