Whangārei house fire: Pregnant woman's childhood home burns down six days after she buys it

Seven months pregnant, Jamie Hoggard in the burnt nursery. The house set on fire after five days of owning it. Photo / Tania Whyte.

Five days into buying her childhood home, seven-months pregnant Jamie Hoggard woke up to the news that it had burnt down.

Named Kauri, the home was gutted by fire at around 3am on July 1. The fire is being treated as suspicious.

Northland fire investigator Craig Bain said the fire was deliberately lit. There were two fires - one was in the mama's room and nursery, while the other one was in the shed, 100 meters from the main house. The investigation is ongoing.

Jamie's grandparents built Kauri in the 1990s and she basically grew up in that house, said Jamie.

"Every memory from Easter to Christmas belongs in this house. I'd go to Kauri school here, visit my grandparents every other weekend, go down the farm and pick apples out of the orchard, hang out with the animals, go to the dams and watch the massive goldfish. That is why we bought it, because it had so much sentimental value. This house gave a warm country feel. It was warm - and it got hot all of a sudden."

Jamie works on a dairy farm in Poroti and her partner Blake Moorhouse is a tradie. The couple signed the settlement papers on June 25. Blake hadn't even moved into the house yet. The family was still in the process of cleaning, shifting, buying and sorting everything for the new house.

"We couldn't move in until the house was cleaned. We owned the house for five days, finished cleaning, started moving the baby stuff, and then suddenly everything was all set alight."

The burnt baby clothing at the Hoggard house. Photo / Tania Whyte.

The soon-to-be parents had put all their combined savings and a mortgage with ANZ bank together to buy the house from her grandparents, who had lived in the house for more than 19 years.

"It was my grandparents' property and they feel very guilty because they lived in it for so long, sold it to us and five days later it burnt. It is really hard for my grandfather to cope with the loss. They were so proud of us that we were getting somewhere and with the baby coming this felt like the right decision.

"I always said I wasn't going to procreate until I could provide. I had the mama-mobile, paid that off, purchased a house and we were all ready to go. Car, house, baby, I wanted to do it in the right order and it was going that way. At this rate, we are looking at living in a caravan."

Jamie Hoggard and her grandparents Alan and Sherryl Hoggard in the burnt house. It was her childhood home that she bought of her grandparents just recently. Photo / Tania Whyte.

Jamie was at her grandparents' place the night it happened when they received a call at around 3.40am about the house.

"I heard my nana talking on the phone. She came out to speak to my granddad and I overheard them saying Kauri had burnt. We all just sat there with a hot drink. What else could we have done?"

However, Jamie wasn't planning to stay at her grandparents'. She was too tired after work that she decided otherwise.

"My partner's mum and I had planned to come the next morning and do a bit of cleaning, moving stuff and getting it ready.

"When I got that call, I knew I should have gone to my house. I kind of feel that if I was there, they wouldn't have burnt it. But you never know."

Apart from the house, the next big concern for Jamie that night was the safety of her lamb. A sheep had just delivered a baby a day before the fire broke.

"I was terrified for the baby lamb. It was one of my biggest worries. It is one thing to burn an empty shell of a house if there was nothing in it, but to burn baby stuff like bassinets, baby clothes, you have to be a different kind of a person. I was so terrified that whoever it was would murder the sheep because I kind of feel that it is another layer of crazy. I mean, if you are going to burn baby stuff, how far could you possibly go?

"I just love lambs and it worries me that I cannot live here and protect them because there have been dog attacks on a few farms here."

Jamie's grandfather Alan Hoggard, a famous horseman in Whangārei, had many vivid memories burnt in Kauri. He bought an Appaloosa mare Pepsi in 1998 and then his horse Topaz in 2002 in that house without any prior knowledge or training with the horses.

Alan took up horse riding as therapy for a spinal injury and found he had equestrian training skills seldom seen outside circus rings or in the movies. He grew up in the Whangārei suburb of Kamo without any contact with horses, and after leaving school he spent 16 years working as a mechanic before switching to commercial fishing for 17 years.

Alan Hoggard's horse Pepsi and the famous buggy during a wedding in the 2000s. Photo / Supplied.

He owned a historic buggy and along with Pepsi Alan took it for weddings and was a big hit during the time. The buggy and other expensive horse gear were stored in the shed, which was set on fire along with the main house. Pepsi too was buried in the property near the shed.

"I have gone through a lot - failed surgeries, sometimes three jobs a day, lost my vocal functions, have a neurogenic bladder, beat cancer – but I have survived. Jamie's got my genes and blood; she will survive too.

"So many old pictures, my achievements, documents, but more importantly so many memories were burnt with Kauri."

Alan Hoggard taught Topaz a range of tricks and manoeuvres when he lived in Kauri in 2005. Photo / Tania Webb.

Jamie's nana Sherryl said it was heartbreaking that someone would burn a house when there was an ongoing housing shortage crisis in the country.

Speaking to the Advocate about her partner, Jamie said: "He just wants to rip down the whole place, he hates looking at it. It is just another reminder for him, and it is just too much for him to take."

"Blake's a builder and it is probably going to come handy in this situation," joked Jamie.

She hoped the insurance paid out and they could leave this behind.

"That is a problem with being a homeowner for five days, it just looks very suspicious, and I do get it. I understand why it seems suspicious, but I only have two months left before this baby comes out. I am not really going to burn all my new baby clothes that are not insured. I have another month to work and then it will be hard for me to even move."