Joanna Te-Rure and her children Mainline Te-Rure-Mita aged 4 and one-year-old Keegan Mita were lucky to escape the fire which devastated their Maraenui home last week. Photo / Warren Buckland
Joanna Te-Rure and her children Mainline Te-Rure-Mita aged 4 and one-year-old Keegan Mita were lucky to escape the fire which devastated their Maraenui home last week. Photo / Warren Buckland
Joanna Te-Rure has no memory of the house fire that nearly claimed her life.
What she will remember forever, though, is the immediate and overwhelming support of the community who saved her.
Firefighters a week ago pulled the Maraenui mother of three from the smokelogged bedroom of her home onthe corner of Lister Pl and Lister Cr.
Joanna said her two children and sister she shared the Kainga Ora-owned home with were already out when firefighters found her collapsed on the floor.
She was flown to Hawke's Bay Hospital in a critical condition where she remained until Thursday.
Now out of hospital and recovering at her sister Delores Kingi's home, she told Hawke's Bay Today all she remembers of that day is getting ready in the morning.
"I got up to make the kids breakfast, put baby down for a nap in the lounge.
"The next thing I remember is waking up in hospital."
Maraenui mother of three Joanna Te-Rure was pulled from her burning home by firefighters last Monday and flown to Hawke's Bay hospital in a critical condition. Photo / NZME
She said it was "really scary" with the doctors and nurses repeatedly having to reassure her that her whānau was safe.
"They told me I had been in a fire and repeated that my kids got out.
"I thought it was a bad dream. When I realised it was real I started freaking out.
"It was like that for a whole week."
All she wanted was to see her children, Mainline Te-Rure-Mita aged four and one-year-old Keegan Mita.
However, Covid-19 alert level restrictions meant her family were unable to visit her in hospital.
"It was really hard for me."
A firefighter in what remains of Joanna Te-Rure's lounge, one of the most damaged rooms and where she believes the fire might have started. Photo / NZME
Te-Rure suffered "really bad smoke inhalation" but no burns.
She still doesn't know exactly how the fire started or what happened.
The family believes the children may have been pulled from the house by neighbours while her other sister was at the shops.
"Had it not been for their quick actions and my neighbours, I might not be here," Te-Rure said.
"I could have been left in the house. I'm just so grateful the neighbours helped."
Joanna Te-Rure doesn't remember much about the fire which decimated her Maraenui home but is grateful to the quick thinking of neighbours and emergency services to get her out. Photo / NZME
Having been to see what remains of the home where she lived for five years, she's even more grateful.
"It was quite emotional when I went back there. It's gone."
Her family had also been able to salvage some things, including sentimental items from the children's father and her brother, both who died in 2019.
"It's only small things but they are the things that mean the most.
"I appreciate that I'm still alive and that my babies and family made it out."
Te-Rure said support from the community, including a Givealittle page which raised more than $1000, was "overwhelming".
"I really want to thank the community of Napier for everything they have donated and the private koha.
"There's enough there to help my kids get started.
"The community has given so much. Just their support is enough."
In time she hopes to thank the community with a street barbecue, as well as meet with her rescues.
An avid Piha Rescue watcher, she never imagined she would be helicoptered to hospital.
Te-Rure said she was struck by how quickly the fire spread and still unsure of how it started.
