Family save home after fire breaks out

Flames engulf a car at Lake Ohia before spreading into trees. Photo / Danielle Collings

A Northland family managed to save their home from burning to ground by climbing onto the roof with buckets of water and smashing a hole in a wall to get at a fire.

The blaze started about 6.20pm on Tuesday in an old wooden villa at isolated Mangamuka in the Far North. It is thought to have spread from a fireplace chimney into the ceiling space.

Okaihau fire chief Andrew Graham said the family smelt smoke, called 111, then got to work themselves. They tackled the flames from above with a bucket and made a hole in the wall to douse the flames with bowls of water.

When the brigade arrived the fire was almost out. Firefighters removed part of the roof to dampen down the last hotspots then nailed the iron back in place. The residents and their neighbours did a good job, Mr Graham said. Their only mistake was not having smoke alarms so they were fortunate the fire did not start after they had gone to sleep.

Kaitaia and Kohukohu brigades also responded but turned back but when they were not required.

Less than an hour earlier, at Lake Ohia on Karikari Peninsula, a fire thought to have been started by sparks from a welder or grinder ignited a large area of kikuyu before engulfing a car and getting into a stand of trees.

Mangonui fire chief Ant Pedersen said the grass "went up like a rocket", showing the Far North was still extremely dry despite the onset of winter. Two appliances from Mangonui and one from Karikari responded to the Lake Ohia fire.