Kaikohe family count their blessings

The Ripi St house was burning fiercely when firefighters arrived. Photo / supplied NAG 26Apr19 - The Ripi St house was burning fiercely when firefighters arrived. Inset: Little remains of the Ripi

A Kaikohe family believe their plans to go to Thursday's Anzac Day dawn service may have saved their lives.

About 2.30am on Thursday their home was engulfed in a blaze so fierce that the heat ignited a neighbour's garage and a van parked in the front yard.

Owners Ursula Beazley and Alfred Tango, who lived at the Ripi St house with two daughters and six grandchildren, wanted to go to the dawn service in Kaikohe to remember Tango's father, who fought with the 28th Maori Battalion in World War II, and to honour his mother, who passed away 15 years ago on Sunday. The whole family spent the night at his family homestead at Taheke so they could get up early and travel together to the service.

But at 2.30am Ms Beazley was woken by a phone call from her sister, who lives a few doors away on Ripi St.

"She said, 'I think you'd better get up here. No 2 Ripi St is on fire.' When I got there it wasn't a fire, it was an inferno. The whole house was engulfed."

Since the couple bought the house in 1997 four generations had passed through and all had left memories. She was sorry to lose family photos spanning many decades, but grateful no one had been hurt, or worse.

"We'll just have to start making new memories," she said.

A courier van parked on the property because one of her daughters had been planning a run on Friday morning was also destroyed. Another daughter was upset because her bags, tickets and passport, packed ready to a trip to Australia on Saturday, were lost.

"But hey, those things can be replaced. Lives can't be," she said.

A son with Down syndrome was concerned about his bicycle, but it had somehow survived almost unscathed. Some photos, baby albums and family records were also recovered, albeit with smoke and water damage.

"We've been really fortunate. The whānau support has been amazing. A lot of people have already dropped off clothes for the kids," Ms Beazley added.

A fire investigator told them the blaze had most likely started in the kitchen. The house had been insured.

Kaikohe's Chief Fire Officer Bill Hutchinson said the house was already fully involved before anyone called 111. When the brigade arrived the roof was beginning to collapse. Firefighters from Kaikohe, Okaihau and Kerikeri prevented the flames from spreading to two nearby homes, but one neighbouring garage was damaged.