Toddler stable weeks after being badly burned in blaze

Firefighters resuscitated the child at the scene of the house fire.

An 18-month-old boy who suffered severe burns in an Auckland house fire is now in a stable condition, more than a month after he was rushed to Middlemore Hospital.

The toddler was left fighting for his life after the fire gutted his family's Mt Wellington home on November 22. For weeks he was in a critical condition - but he has now improved and is listed as being stable.

He remains at Middlemore Hospital in the National Burns Unit.

The fire started at the Housing New Zealand property on Malone Rd at about 8am.

Neighbours saw a woman passing two young children linked together by their arms from a window to another woman waiting below.

"Flames were everywhere and the mum was holding a baby and shouting that another child was still in the house," said Shaun Withy, who lives opposite the house.

"The smoke was really bad and the woman eventually had to jump from the window herself."

Mr Withy and another neighbour ran into the burning house and rescued a man from a downstairs room as Fakaola Uilou, who lives next door, tried to beat back flames with a garden hose.

"When we got him outside he eventually came round and was trying to get back into the house and get upstairs as there was another wee boy still in there. We had to hold him back," Mr Withy said.

Firefighters rescued the 18-month old and resuscitated him at the scene.

"He was unresponsive at first but they managed to get him going again," Fire Service area commander Mike Shaw said.

The house had fire alarms that were tested by Housing New Zealand regularly. Whether they were functioning at the time was under investigation - as was the cause of the fire.