LEAD STORY: Mother's Day horror

JOE DAWSON
Mother's Day for Napier woman Erin Utiera turned to disaster yesterday when her Onekawa house was gutted by fire while she was being treated to a rare afternoon out.
Thirty years of memories and possessions were destroyed when a fire broke out at her Onekawa home about 1.30pm, ripping through the property.
Today the house was boarded up. The exterior of the house managed to escape relatively unscathed, but the damage inside was extensive and firefighters worked for nearly two hours to extinguish the flames.
Ms Utiera lived at the property with a 4-year-old foster child and a 28-year-old disabled man she has cared for since he was just months old.
Over the years she has dedicated her life to looking after children, whether family members or foster children from Child Youth and Family.
She has taken in 13 over the years, and her biggest worry from the fire was about them.
``You just look at this and say how much trauma do these kids have to go through,' she said. ``It just doesn't make sense. ``This is their safe house, their safe place.
``They all come back here, all the kids come back here.'
Ms Utiera said she was at home 99 per cent of the time. She was out yesterday when daughter Kelly, 34, and the first of the 13 she had adopted, took her to Breakers for a Mother's Day lunch.
She said the fire started when her youngest boy, at home with an adult friend, Ms Utiera's granddaughter and one of her friends, both 16, and the 28-year-old, played with a pistol-shaped lighter he had picked up at a friend's place without anyone noticing. He was not normally allowed to play with guns.
Firefighters yesterday praised the actions of the adults in the home for getting everybody out safely and avoiding a tragedy.
Napier station officer Ken Cooper said the people in the house had been taken aback by the speed at which the fire spread.
``The fire started in a child's bedroom and the occupants were alerted by a smoke alarm,' he said.
``They went to investigate and took action. They did well to get everybody out so quickly.
``They were very surprised by the speed at which it spread.'
All the people in the house were taken to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation, and one for minor burns to their arm.
Back at the house this morning, Ms Utiera said everything had been lost - clothes, toys, beds, everything.
She was staying with daughter, Kelly, but would need to find somewhere else to live.
Repairs to the home were likely to take up to nine months to be completed, she said.
``I don't know what we're going to do.'
Three sets of neighbours came to the house while Hawke's Bay Today was with Ms Utiera, and offered support, clothes, food and beds.