A Whangārei family who woke to find their lounge aglow were lucky they awoke when they did, a fire investigator says.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand crews were called to the home southwest of central Whangārei in Maunu about 3.18am today.
About 20 minutes earlier, Melitza Skudder had been fast asleep before she was woken by her husband yelling at her to get up.
She ran down their hallway into the kitchen area to find their lounge to the left had a strange “glow”.
“We didn’t really know the extent of it because it wasn’t like there were massive flames or anything, it was all in the ceiling,” she said.
Husband Michael had woken to the sound of banging around 3am and had gone to investigate.
That banging had been the sound of their roof contracting, where flames were already licking through the roof cavity.
That was when he woke Melitza and their teenage daughter, Demi.
In the lounge, they opened the back door to the barbecue area, where flames in the roof “took off”, Melitza said.
Their lounge was soon full of a thick smog, so they leapt to grab as much as they could.
Melitza found her treasured rings and birth certificates, while Demi grabbed their late dogs’ ashes.
Crews from Whangārei, Hikurangi, Kamo, Onerahi and Portland arrived at their home 10 minutes after they were called, working to contain the blaze.
During that process, they ripped down some of the ceiling to access the flames.
Fire Investigator Graeme Matthews said the crew had done a good job saving as much of the home as they could.
It was lucky the family had woken when they did, he said.
Melitza said their smoke alarm had been sitting on the kitchen bench waiting for a new battery.
“It’s just a good reminder on how effective they are and what they do,” Matthews said.
The family had enjoyed a barbecue the night before, which appeared to be the area where the blaze started.
Matthews said he would be working today to ascertain the cause, but it didn’t appear to be electrical.
The fire had moved from low in the corner of the lounge to up through the ceiling, he said.
“A fire down low like that can get into the wall and obviously, you’ve got timber framing in the wall.
“The fire will slowly burn up the timber framing, and it will get inside the ceiling or roof cavity, and it will slowly start burning along the timber framing,” Matthews said.
Matthews said the flames likely crept through the roof for some time before they got enough air to create a bigger blaze, which would have eventually started burning down the ceiling.
“The positive here is that the house is still intact, the people are safe, and they got out safely and we don’t have total destruction,” he said.
Melitza said they built the house 19 years ago and it had served as their family home since then.
Two grown children, aged 18 and 20, were at university, leaving Demi, 15, Melitza and Michael out of their home for the near future.
Thankfully they were fully insured, Melitza said.
Meanwhile, neighbours had already shown support, and they had family to stay with until they could move back into their beloved home.
Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.