Meri Haapu’s warning after Gisborne house fire: check smoke alarms, prioritise safety

Meri Haapu believes an element left on underneath an air fryer was the cause of the fire that destroyed her home. Photo / Murray Robertson

A Gisborne mother had to physically stop her teen son from rushing into their kitchen to put out a fire as flames hit the ceiling. Meri Haapu has been overwhelmed by community support after her house burned down, but what matters most to her is what can’t be replaced. She wants to remind people of the importance of smoke alarms and getting out quickly in an emergency. James Pocock reports.

Meri Haapu’s 17-year-old son had arrived for a visit along with a few friends and family less than two hours before they had to rush out as flames burst the window glass behind them.

Three crews of firefighters responded to the house fire at Totara St, Elgin, about 3.45pm on September 19.

The front rooms were gutted, left with extensive fire damage, while the rest of the Kāinga Ora house suffered heavy smoke damage according to a senior firefighter.

An air fryer was being used on the stovetop where the kitchen ventilation was located.

Although the fire investigator had not determined a definitive cause with her, Haapu believes someone had earlier left an element on underneath the air fryer.

Haapu was the first to check the kitchen when she began to smell burning plastic, only to be confronted with flames from the bottom of the air fryer licking the ceiling when she opened the door.

“The fire alarms didn’t go off because the doors were closed so the smoke couldn’t get out,” Haapu said.

“When I opened the door the flame was already hitting the ceiling,’' she told The Gisborne Herald.

She said she had to physically stop her son from rushing in to extinguish the fire because she knew how quickly it could spread and saw it was too late.

“Look, it’s too late! Get out!” she told him.

‘‘When we got out it would have been only 30 seconds later when windows started blowing,” she said.

“If I wasn’t there to get him out of that house [my son] would have tried his hardest [to stop the fire] and probably died.

“That’s what I said to him: ‘I can’t replace you son’.”

She wanted to remind everyone of the importance of smoke alarms.

“Get out when they go off, don’t try to be a hero and save it because your life is more important than anything else,” she said.

“People need to check those smoke alarms, check them yearly because they do help.”

They had since discovered their property had been “ransacked” and items inside had gone missing.

“But it is what it is, they must need it more than us. That’s how I think, I don’t want to think negatively.”

She said community organisations, advocates, whānau, her marae and members of the public had quickly reached out to her.

“There isn’t a better place than Gizzy for love and support. It’s just so overwhelming with all the love and support we’ve received from people.”

Haapu and her three teenage daughters, aged 13, 15 and 17, who lived at the house with her have been staying at their marae in Waihirere since.

“I’m just lucky our marae opened their doors because we couldn’t get accommodated.”

She did not want to stay at the marae for as long as it would take to find another home in Gisborne and had found a home in Porirua through connections in Wellington.

“I don’t mind [moving] because then we can be in a house, we can’t be in the marae forever.”

Haapu said she will now take the opportunity to pursue a career as a coroner in Wellington, so she can return to give back to her people.

“I was in Wellington earlier this year because I had started training to be a coroner so I could come back and help our people so [they] didn’t have to wait so long when loved ones die.”

James Pocock joined the Gisborne Herald as chief reporter in 2024 after covering environmental, local government and post-cyclone issues in Hawke’s Bay. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives near Gisborne. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz.