Woman and child escape Whangarei house fire

Firefighters were called to a house fire on Tennyson St in the Whangārei suburb of Raumanga at 2.30pm today.

Firefighters have extinguished a fire that started in the top floor of a two story house.

A Northern Advocate reporter at the scene said the interior of the house looked extremely damaged.

A women and her son were at the home when the fire started.

The boy got out on his own, but a neighbour intervened and pulled the woman out as she was trying to put the fire out inside the house with a garden hose.

A cat was seen to jump from a window on the top floor.

The woman and the male neighbour are being checked by St John Ambulance.

The women is believed to have lived at the house for about six years.