Teenage sisters beat out the flames engulfing a 6-year-old girl with their hands yesterday as the child escaped a blazing car in Christchurch.
Rachel Johnson, 18, and her sister, Louise, 16, had smelled rubber burning and looked to see what was happening outside their older sister's suburban Shirley home at 10.45am yesterday.
They saw the 6-year-old girl with clothes aflame.
The pair ran outside and tried to get the girl to roll on the ground.
The girl was in a panic and just screamed for her mother, Rachel Johnson said.
The sisters used their hands to pat out the flames licking the girl's face and body.
Their nephew went back to the house to call the ambulance and fire services.
Meanwhile, the Ford Falcon car, which had been emitting dense smoke, erupted in flames and quickly burned out.
The girl was admitted to Christchurch Hospital with serious burns.
Her condition last night was not available.
The sisters received only minor burns.
Sergeant Tony Tully of Christchurch said police and fire officers were trying to establish the cause of the fire.
The car had been parked only a short time on Riselaw St before the fire. The girl had been out of the car and got back into it.
When the fire started in the car, the girl managed to get out but her clothes were alight, Sergeant Tully said.
Police did not think it was a case of a child being left alone in a car for a long period, he said.
They thought the driver of the car, a visitor to the area, had called into a house nearby.
