Child screams for uncle who ran back into fatal New Plymouth house fire for ute keys

A woman who witnessed a fatal house fire says she will never forget the screams of a badly-burned boy who called out for his uncle trapped in the blaze.

The neighbour held the injured child as the fire tore through his Oranga St, New Plymouth home around 11pm yesterday.

“That boy. I’ll never forget that boy’s screams for his uncle. Poor baby,” she told NZME today.

The woman, who asked not to be named, believed a man at the property had escaped the fire with the child but re-entered to get the keys to his ute.

“But he never came back out,” she said.

“There was no way he was getting out of that.”

She said it was a “crackle” sound that first alerted her to the fire, and when she looked out her window, the whole street was “lit up”.

The fatal fire fully engulfed the home on Oranga St last night. Photo / Supplied.

“That whole back [of the house] just blew out, and the front blew out when we were on our way down to make sure everyone was alright.”

When she arrived, she found the boy at the front of the property.

“That’s when I was hugging the baby. Well, he’s a young child but he’s still a baby to me.

“He was in shock...He’s blessed to be alive that boy.”

She understood three people lived at the property but only the child and the man were home at the time.

The woman said she returned home around 1am, upset by what had happened.

“It was so sad.”

One person has died and a child has been hospitalised with burns after a fire ripped through a New Plymouth home.

Another neighbour said her sons woke her up around 11pm, fearing the house next door was “being shot up”.

“There were loud popping noises… they did sound like gunshots.”

She looked out her window to see the home “fully engulfed in flames”.

As she went to call for help, she saw emergency services already pulling into the drive.

She said a man had lived there for close to 20 years, along with a primary school-aged child.

The aftermath of the fatal blaze this morning.

Fire and Emergency shift manager Belinda Beets said crews were called to Oranga St, Westown, just before 11 last night.

The home was well alight when crews arrived and three fire engines were called to the scene. Two support vehicles were also sent.

She said everyone has now been accounted for, but it had been difficult to assess as people kept running back inside the home.

A police spokesperson said they would examine the scene this morning alongside Fire and Emergency.

A spokesperson from Hato Hone St John said one person was taken to Taranaki Base Hospital in serious condition.