'If I hadn't woken up, we'd be dead'

Five young men are alive today because one of them woke and got up to get a glass of water early yesterday.
 Fire engulfed the home they were in on Oturoa Rd, about 20km northwest of Rotorua, early yesterday, leaving two of them suffering from smoke inhalation but the others unscathed and counting themselves extremely lucky.
 Carl Nelder, 22, a farm hard on the Oturoa Rd property, alerted the others after waking to find the house on fire about 2.30am.
The five men, all in their 20s, scrambled out windows to get to safety and wait for fire crews.
Mr Nelder lives in the four-bedroom house with his younger brother, Jesse Wilson, 18.
Mr Nelder and four of his friends were at the house on Wednesday night. The group had gone to bed about midnight and Mr Nelder had woken about 2.30am to find the house was on fire. "I don't normally get up in the night. I just felt thirsty."
He had awoken to find the lounge well ablaze.
"It all happened so fast. All I could think about was getting everyone out of the house okay," he said.
"All of a sudden there were flames coming through the roof and glass was exploding."
He said his friends were all deep sleepers but waking them up had been easy.
"I just told them to get up because the place was on fire. I must have sounded serious because they knew I wasn't joking."
Mr Nelder's parents, Tracy and Luke Wildhaber, were in another house on the same property.
Mrs Wildhaber said she had been woken by the phone ringing.
"I looked outside and I saw it burning and thought it was the barn then I realised and said, 'Oh my god, it's the house'."
Mr Nelder said it was lucky he had woken up.
"I am usually a deep sleeper. If I hadn't woken up we would all be dead," he said.
"That is what is messing with my head."
He said it had been only a matter of minutes before the fire crews arrived.
"The team from Mamaku were here really quickly. They were top-notch blokes."
Mr Nelder said he still couldn't believe what had happened.
When The Daily Post spoke to him, it was the first time he had been back to the house.
"It just looks like such a mess. I can't believe it. We've lost everything."
Mrs Wildhaber said the family had received so much support from people who had heard about the fire.
"News just travels so quickly. We have had people donate clothes and things which has been great," she said.
"We are just glad everyone is okay. A house can be replaced but people can't."
Mr Nelder said two of his friends were treated for smoke inhalation but everyone was fine.
Rotorua Fire Service fire safety officer Stuart Booten said one fire appliance from Mamaku, one from Rotorua and two from Ngongotaha had been called to the fire.
He said the house was well ablaze when fire crews arrived but it hadn't taken long to control the blaze.
 The cause of the fire was still being determined.
"At this stage, there are a couple of likely points of ignition but I think the most likely cause is the clothes airer being too close to the fire."
Mr Booten said the clothes airer could have fallen on to a log fire.
He said there were also electrical appliances near the ignition point that had to be checked.
"We will not know what started the fire until we have done a few more tests."
He said it appeared the smoke alarm in the house may not have been working.
"It is very lucky they all got out okay," Mr Booten said.
"We can only hope lessons can be learnt from this. Smoke alarms and sprinklers could stop this kind of damage."
He said the house was about 95 per cent destroyed and uninhabitable.
Temporary accommodation had been provided for Mr Nelder in the form of a caravan.
"I just can't believe what has happened," Mr Nelder said.