The Ripi St house was burning fiercely when firefighters arrived. Photo / supplied
The Ripi St house was burning fiercely when firefighters arrived. Photo / supplied
A Kaikohe family believes their plans to go to yesterday's Anzac Day dawn service may have saved their lives.
About 2.30am on Thursday their home was engulfed in a blaze so fierce radiant heat was enough to ignite a neighbour's garage and a van parked in the front yard.
Somewalls are still standing but inside only ash and charred wreckage remain.
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.
They also wanted to honour his mother, who passed away 15 years ago yesterday.
''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,'' she said.
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,'' Beazley said.
A courier van parked on the property was also destroyed. It had been parked there only because one of her daughters was going to do a courier run thismorning.
Another daughter was upset because her bags, tickets and passport were packed ready for a trip to Australia tomorrow.They had also been consumed in the fire.
''But hey, those things can be replaced. Lives can't be.''
A son with Down syndrome was concerned about his bicycle but that had somehow survived almost unscathed.
And while the Advocate was there yesterday Beazley discovered some photos, baby albums and family records had survived, 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.''
A fire investigator told them the blaze had most likely started in the kitchen.
''We don't know the cause yet, and to be honest, that won't change that fact our home is gone. We just have to support one another and have faith that things will work out.''
The house was insured and they are now staying with whānau.
The heat stripped the paint and tyres from this child's bicycle. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Kaikohe fire chief Bill Hutchinson said the house was already fully involved before anyone noticed the blaze and called 111. When the brigade arrived the roof was starting to collapse.
Firefighters from Kaikohe, Okaihau and Kerikeri stopped the blaze spreading to two nearby homes but one neighbouring garage was damaged.
Initially firefighters were concerned a person could have been inside because they were told someone had been dropped off at the house an hour before the fire.
