People are playing with fire by removing alarm batteries

Three state houses in Kaikohe have been damaged by fire in as many weeks - with two tenants slated for removing batteries from smoke alarms.
Those who removed the batteries had put their families' lives at risk, Kaikohe fire chief Bill Hutchinson said.
He also expressed concern about the apparent carelessness that led to two fires burning simultaneously inside one of the homes.
The occupants had left a fan heater on in one of the bedrooms and food cooking on the stove. The food had caught alight in the kitchen and the heater was placed so close to the wall that the heat had set the room's curtains on fire.
No one was home at the time and the only thing that saved the property from being destroyed was the fact the bedroom door was closed and the quick actions of neighbours who raised the alarm.
"Originally we thought it was suspicious but I think it was just misuse of heat sources and lack of attention," Mr Hutchinson said.
The house was fitted with fire alarms but, for some reason, the tenants had removed batteries from them.
"If the fire had happened at night, while people were sleeping, there could have been deaths,'' he said. ``It seems clear to me that individuals who do this place little value on their lives or those who they claim are close to them."
Batteries were also removed from a smoke alarm at another Housing NZ home, in Kauri Pl, which was extensively damaged by fire on June 26.
Two Kaikohe youths who were unaware of flames spreading through the house had to be alerted by concerned neighbours. The fire, which started in the garage, destroyed about 70 percent of the home.
While the actual cause of the fire was not found, it was likely that it was started by children playing with matches, Mr Hutchinson said.
"Again, in this property, smoke alarms had been fitted and again the battery had been removed from the alarm in the bedroom. This was another potential disaster waiting to happen had this fire occurred later in the night," he said.
"In this case children were home in the lounge unaware that the other end of the house was engulfed in flames until neighbours got them outside."
On Wednesday, the brigade rushed to another state home on Purdy Ave after a drier at the address caught on fire.
The occupants attempted to dampen the flames with a garden hose but the blaze had reached the ceiling by the time fire officers arrived.
"Housing NZ is having a bad run at the moment," Mr Hutchinson said.
Housing NZ Northland regional manager Darren Collins said he was waiting to receive reports from the fire service on each of the three houses before a decision was made whether to recover costs for damage. If the damage was considered to be the tenants' fault, Housing NZ would try to recover the cost of repairs.