Two teenage boys, who were neighbours, rescued a young boy from the fierce fire, but were unable to save Ms Borrell.
A woman, whose name had never been released by police, died after a car fire on Tumunui Rd on April 30. A cyclist spotted the blaze and raised the alarm. The woman's body was found after the blaze was put out.
Rotorua Fire Safety Officer Stuart Bootten said 2011 was a "bad year" for Rotorua in terms of fire fatalities.
He said the Dickens St house fire was caused by drinking alcohol and cooking and the Clayton Rd fire was caused by someone smoking.
Mr Bootten said 19 people were injured in fires in Rotorua last year.
He said Rotorua firefighters were called out to 1147 incidents last year, and volunteer firefighters in the area were called to 286 incidents. Those volunteers were from areas including Mamaku, Ngongotaha and Murupara.
The callouts included structure fires, vegetation fires, rescues, hazardous substance incidents, sprinkler activations and natural disasters including flooding, trees down and snow and hail.
Mr Bootten said the number of fires in the area was similar to previous years.
While the number of fires in Rotorua was not decreasing, once a fire had started people were quicker to call the fire service.
"We are getting there quicker and reducing the amount of damage."
Mr Bootten said the majority of fires started in the kitchen and firefighters had seen an increase in portable stoves causing fires.
"People are buying those single-ring portable gas stoves and are using them to cook in their homes," he said.
"We have seen a few fires which have been caused by these appliances."
Mr Bootten said the main cause was that the gas canisters were not properly connected to the appliance. He also said there had been a couple of incidents where people were putting pots which were too big on top of the element.
"When the pot is too big for the element the heat gets pushed down causing the gas canister to heat up and explode."