Rapid exit for family as fire engulfs home

This Napier house was gutted after a fire on Saturday night. Photo/Paul Taylor

A Napier house was gutted by fire on Saturday night after a candle was left unattended.

The fire occurred at about 11.10pm at an address on Kennedy Rd, Onekawa, after the candle caused bedding to catch alight, the fire service said.

A neighbour woke to a sound of breaking glass. "I looked out my window and saw flames and thought, 'oh my God, fire'," she said.

She ushered her family and cat outside, where they met the occupants of the blazing house; a mother, her three children and a visitor.

Napier senior station officer Jamie Nichol said the fire service received multiple calls and the fire was "going well" before it was noticed.

Three fire trucks attended; two from Napier fire station and one from Hastings station, as well as an operational support unit from Napier station.

Mr Nichol said the fire began in the front conservatory of the house after a candle was placed too close to bedding. The fire spread into the lounge where the Fire Service was able to cut it off.

There was heat and smoke damage to the rest of the house.

The occupants acted correctly by vacating the house as soon as they noticed the fire, Mr Nichol said. None of the occupants were injured in the fire.

Yesterday the house was a charred wreck with many of its windows broken. The former occupants of the address could not be reached for comment.

"They're good people and they've lived there a long time," another neighbour said.