Lighter may have set house ablaze

A Glen Eden mother walked into her living room yesterday to find her young son standing in front of a wall of flames.

Neighbours say the woman had just finished a cigarette when she went to the bathroom about 9.45am.

She smelt smoke and ran to the living room to find the curtains engulfed in flames and the couch catching fire.

Her son, believed to be 3 or 4 years old, was standing near the flames.

The woman grabbed the boy and rushed outside, escaping minutes before the entire house caught fire.

Neighbour Delilah Filipo said she heard crashing and banging from next door and rushed outside thinking someone was being attacked. Instead she saw the distraught woman.

"She was saying, 'Help, help - have you got a fire extinguisher'."

By the time the Fire Brigade arrived little could be done to save most of the woman's belongings and Ms Filipo's family were using a garden hose to dampen down their fence.

The heat was so intense that parts of a car parked nearby melted and trees wilted.

Ms Filipo said the woman told her she had been smoking and wasn't sure where she put her lighter before going into the bathroom. "Maybe the kid found the lighter," she said.

Fire Safety Officer Ray Coleman said it was possible the child had been playing with the lighter.

He said the fire spread quickly, fuelled by a breeze blowing through the open-plan home.

It could have turned into something far more serious had the mother not got to her son in time.

"If she had been outside or up the path talking to the neighbours the circumstances could have been different. She may well have not got back into the house."

Mr Coleman said the fire highlighted the importance of keeping matches and lighters away from children and the need for smoke alarms.

The woman's landlord, Phil Smith, said his main concern was for the family.

"They are the priority, the people. You can replace the house but you can't replace a child or a loved one."

Firefighters had told him the house turned into an inferno in just six minutes and he hoped his tenant's close escape served as a warning to others about the dangers of children playing with lighters.