Narrow escape from house fire for two Kerikeri men

Two young men were lucky to escape with their lives after a house fire in Kerikeri, a fire investigator says.

A Kerikeri house fire was just minutes away from claiming the lives of two young men, a fire investigator says.

The blaze started about 2.20am on Saturday inside the lounge wall of a cottage on Inlet Rd.

The two young tenants, who were asleep at the other end of the dwelling, were woken by the sound of falling debris. The cottage had a smoke alarm but the battery had been removed.

Fire investigator Terry Baylis said the blaze had already spread into the ceiling cavity and the bedrooms were full of smoke when the occupants were woken by the sound of debris falling onto the living room floor.

"If that hadn't woken them the fire would've spread to their end of the building in another five minutes and the outcome could've been very different," he said.

Mr Baylis said the cottage had been extended in the 1970s when an exterior chimney became an internal chimney.

A gap between the hearth and the chimney meant heat was able to escape from the firebox into the timber cavity around the chimney.

Over many years the timber had dried out to the point where heat alone was enough to make it ignite through a process called pyrolysis.

The fire could have happened to anyone, Mr Baylis said, but it was a reminder to ensure smoke alarms were working. He also urged anyone unsure about the safety of a fireplace, or if it hadn't been used for a year, to get it professionally checked.

The cottage is still standing but the roof and one end is fire damaged. It is smoke-damaged throughout.

The blaze in a home in Waitangi last month, leaving a retired couple and eight grandchildren homeless, was also caused by pyrolysis.