The children were safe on a neighbour's lawn when fire crews arrived. Photo / File / Bradley Ambrose
A Hawke's Bay family of two adults and five children escaped their burning house with just the clothes they were wearing.
Napier fire service senior station officer Bryan Dunphy said the three-bedroom in Onekawa, Napier, was well ablaze when three crews rushed to it shortly after 6pm yesterday.
The children,
aged 7 and under, lived with their grandmother and were being bathed before dinner when the fire broke out in one of the bedrooms, a neighbour said.
One of the adults tried to put out the blaze "but it was too far gone for him", Mr Dunphy said.
Investigators worked into the evening, stripping back walls to find the cause of the blaze, which was not suspicious.
