MaryRose Flower with son Oliver and volunteer firefighters Joe McNamara and sons Andrew and Sam who were first at the scene and helped douse the flames before fire trucks turned up. Photo / Michael Cunningham
MaryRose Flower with son Oliver and volunteer firefighters Joe McNamara and sons Andrew and Sam who were first at the scene and helped douse the flames before fire trucks turned up. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Quick-thinking volunteer firefighters used a garden hose, baby bath and kitchen pots to save a house rented by a solo mother with a 1-year-old baby.
The blaze in an 80-year-old house in Ruakaka on Tuesday evening started in a rubbish bin on a deck outside the laundry room where MaryRoseFlower had left a plastic bag, after emptying it of embers from the fireplace earlier that day.
Ruakaka volunteer firefighters Joe McNamara and his sons Andrew and Sam live on Takahiwai Rd about 3km away from the Pirihi Rd property where the fire started. They were paged about 9.10pm.
All three jumped in the car and headed towards the Ruakaka fire station but on their way decided to go straight to the burning house.
They were joined by another volunteer firefighter, Joanne Hammon.
"Our first priority was to ensure all occupants were out of the house. We went to the back and saw the laundry area glowing so we grabbed a hose attached to the house, a plastic baby bath in the kitchen area, and pots to fight the fire," Mr McNamara said. "In five minutes we knocked the guts out of the fire. We managed to use things like the hose -- mainly it was safe as the fire was burning outside.
In five minutes we knocked the guts out of the fire.
"It takes 10 minutes for firefighters to get here and in that time we made sure things we did were safe.
"The house would have been more destroyed if we hadn't come here first."
Mr McNamara said having a garden hose attached to a house was always handy.
Ms Flower moved into the house with her son, Oliver, two months ago. She emptied the fireplace about 9am on Tuesday and filled a plastic bag with the ashes. The ashes were thrown in a paddock before she disposed of the plastic bag in a rubbish bin at the back of the house.
"I was in bed watching TV when I heard a noise ... like someone stomping on the deck. So I got up and when I opened the back door, I saw these big flames. They were bright orange," Ms Flower said.
"I then repeatedly filled a cup with water and threw it on the fire while my baby was asleep in the lounge.
"That seemed to have quietened the flames but it started to go up again when the firefighters arrived," she said.
Ms Flower was amazed the plastic bag ignited hours after she had disposed of it.
"This house is probably 100 years old and I didn't want to be the first person to burn it down. I am so thankful to the firefighters."
She is staying with her mother on Takahiwai Rd for a couple of days while insurance and building assessors inspect the damage.
Ruakaka Fire Brigade station officer, Jeff D'Ath, said it was a good save.
"When we arrived, we pulled the weatherboard from the wall and the iron from the roof to put out the hotspots, which we located with a thermal-imaging camera."
Mr D'Ath said the incident served as a reminder to homeowners not to underestimate embers from fireplaces.
"They'd often look dead but there would be a lot of heat which can create combustion and ultimately ignite. Handle ashes in steel containers and keep them away from your house."
Two fire appliances from Ruakaka, two from Waipu, and a water tanker from Mangawhai attended. A St John ambulance crew checked the mother and baby for smoke inhalation.
