Faxmere house fire: Flaxmere family homeless after blaze destroys home

A house fire in Flaxmere on Tuesday afternoon has severely damaged a family's home and destroyed their belongings. Photo / Paul Taylor

A house fire in Flaxmere has severely damaged a young family's home and left them homeless.

Destiny Henderson said she was in the house with her two children, aged 3 and 1, and her sister when the fire started.

"I was in the kitchen, I had just made a hot drink and I was talking to my sister who lives with me. I heard a little crackle and I just said out loud 'what's that, what was that?'

"My sister looked out the window towards her room and just ran straight to her room, opened the door and it was in flames."

Henderson said the house had two working smoke alarms.

"It happened so fast, we literally only had time to get the kids and run. It was really scary.

"I couldn't even think at the time, it was just get everyone out quickly and ASAP. It's no joke, we're actually very lucky to be alive today."

Henderson said that she, her children, her sister and her sister's partner were staying with family now that they were homeless.

"We've had family from all over come to see us and all the locals come to see us to donate us clothing, food and bedding."

She said it was hard to explain how grateful she was for the support and how overwhelming it had been.

"I just really want to say thank you to everyone who stopped to help when they saw me in the middle of the road and everyone that has donated clothing and food, and for all the support from our local community and our family near and far."

Two fire trucks from Hastings attended the scene at 1.04pm and managed to extinguish the fire by 2.37pm.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman Murray Dunbar said the house was "severely damaged".

He said the fire was not suspicious and no injuries were recorded.