Two lead elderly woman from blaze

Two people saved the life of an elderly woman who tried to save her house from a blaze.

Together a neighbour and a former firefighter pulled an elderly Northland woman from a house fire as she tried to douse the flames with buckets of water.

The former army barracks, which had been converted into a home on Devich Rd in Mangawhai, ignited about 1.50pm last Monday.

Mangawhai's chief fire officer Maurice Doughty said a neighbour saw the flames and headed towards the house and at the same time a former firefighter was driving passed and stopped on seeing the blaze.

They went into the burning building and found a woman in her late 80s trying to put the fire out by throwing buckets of water on the flames.

She was taken outside and reassured by the two men before ambulance crews arrived and treated her for smoke inhalation.

"It was fortunate those two guys were there. They have helped to prevent a possible catastrophe," Mr Doughty said.

Fire crews from Mangawhai, Wellsford, Maungaturoto, Waipu and Kaiwaka were called to help extinguish the fire as well as water tankers from Marsden Pt, Paparoa and Mahurangi.

The house was totally damaged and the woman left with only the clothes she was standing in. She was staying with friends in Mangawhai while deciding what to do.

It appears the fire started by embers that had come from a nearby incinerator and landed on material stacked near the house.

Mr Doughty said it was a warning that all rubbish and incinerator fires should be away from building and combustible materials and should be watched carefully, especially in windy conditions.

Mr Doughty's message was succinct. "In the event of a fire get out, call 111 and stay out," he said.

It has been a busy few days for the Mangawhai brigade as they were called to a controlled burn about 7.30pm that jumped fire breaks and was threatening a stand of pine trees. Firefighters go the blaze under control and finished work about midnight.