Fire guts home near Taupō but firefighter says smoke alarms saved the people inside

Turangi and Southern Lakes fire crews attended a house fire in Kapua St in the Tauranga-Taupo district. Photo / NZME

Fire has gutted a family home near Taupō, but the occupants managed to escape unharmed because of its working smoke alarms, a firefighter says.

Turangi Fire Brigade station officer Riley Millar said they were notified about a chimney fire at a single-storey wooden house in Kapua St in Tauranga-Taupo district just before 1am today.

Millar said two fire crews and a water tanker from Turangi station and another crew from the Southern Lakes station attended the blaze, but on arrival the house was “well-involved”.

They spent several hours at the property.

“We were able to stop the fire from spreading to neighbouring properties, contained the fire and eventually put it out.

Millar said the house was gutted but the two adults and two children inside it and two other people in a sleepout on the property managed to self-evacuate.

“Thankfully the homeowners had smoke alarms, which alerted them to the smoke. If they hadn’t detected the smoke we could easily be talking about multiple losses of life.”

“Clearly smoke alarms do save lives, which is why we spend some much time and effort in trying to promote this vital safety message. People also need regularly check and replace the batteries.

He said understood the homeowners had recently bought the house and were insured.

A Fire and Emergency NZ Northern Communications shift manager said the cause of the blaze was being investigated.