Farm workers scramble to escape fire

FILE

A Mangakino farmhouse has burnt to the ground in minutes, leaving two farm workers with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Mangakino Volunteer Fire Brigade Chief Fire Officer Craig Snowball said there was nothing they could do to save the building when fire broke out on Saturday around 6pm.

"It was an awkward job due to the lack of water, more than anything else," he said.

The single storey plastic weatherboard house was "fully involved" when the fire crew arrived, six minutes after receiving the call.

He said the windows had smashed, the plastic boards had melted and there was nothing that could be done to save the house. The two occupants had managed to scramble out of the house before the fire took hold.

They are both dairy workers.

"They were just unlucky," Mr Snowball said.

"They're still shaken up about it."

He said there was a water tank nearby but they couldn't pump water from it. A fire truck from Tokoroa arrived at the scene and they drained the water into their tank and sent the second truck back to town to refill.

Firefighters spent three-and-a-half hours at the scene preventing the fire from spreading to farm equipment and a car and then dampening down.

Mr Snowball said the occupants, who were from overseas, were staying in Mangakino and he'd dropped off an old bed, drawers and fridge to help them out.

He said people in the town had also offered to help the pair.

A Fire Safety Investigator is investigating the fire, which Mr Snowball said was not believed to be suspicious.