Auckland house fire: Police name person who died as 59-year-old Sharree Love

Firefighters fighting the house fire on Kohekohe Street in New Lynn. Photo / Supplied

Police have named the person who died in the New Lynn house fire last Saturday as 59-year-old Sharree Love.

A police spokeswoman said the fire was not being treated as suspicious at this stage and the death has been referred to the Coroner.

“Our thoughts are with her friends and family at this sad time,” the spokeswoman said.

Emergency services were alerted to the well-involved blaze in the two-storey property around 6.30am on Saturday.

One neighbour said she, her husband, and their two children were in their front lounge when they heard a loud bang.

She initially believed it could have been a cat jumping onto their upstairs roof.

“My husband ran outside, told me to get the kids, and we ran out and saw the house on fire.

“He [her husband] was incredible. He started to run to the door, was screaming for the neighbour, got the other neighbours out and then started to water down her plants.”

Another neighbour directly next door said their whole house was asleep when the fire started, but was woken up by the other neighbour shouting to wake them up.

“He was shouting ‘Come out, come out!’ and then we woke up and saw smoke.”

After they had left the house, they witnessed the fire slowly engulf the rest of the house with the help of the wind.

While they have been let back into their house, there are still smoke spots in the bathroom and the burned smell still lingers.

Fire and Emergency NZ shift manager Ryan Geen said: “At 6.38 this morning we received multiple calls of a two-storey house on fire”.

“We dispatched three fire trucks and we arrived at 6.54am and immediately called for more manpower and two additional trucks to assist.”

The crew reported a “well involved two-storey house and sent in search crews with breathing apparatus at 7.11am.