One person is dead and another in hospital after one of two fires to hit the Central North Island overnight.
A house fire in Whakatane this morning is being investigated by police and fire safety officers after one person died.
Police and fire services were called to Douglas St about 4.30am. The fire had already spread through the property. One person managed to escape from the house and was taken to hospital with injuries. A second person was found dead at the scene.
No further information was available at edition time.
The fire was less than 12 hours after a Rotorua fire which smoke-damaged a Fairview Rd home about 6.50pm. Two neighbours risked their lives to break into the Western Heights home searching for the owner, who unbeknown to them was not home. Doug Paahi and Kataraina Ramlose had crawled through the smoke-filled two-bedroom unit.
"I was about to start cooking tea when I just happened to look up to see the flames," Mr Paahi said.
"The room was lit up like the fourth of July. I knew the lady lived by herself and because it was coming from the bedroom. I thought, 'It's an old lady, she might be still in there'. I just knew I had to do something."
Mr Paahi ran across the road to use Mrs Ramlose's phone to call the fire service.
The pair ran back across the road and began banging on the windows of the house.
"No one answered and I thought, 'what if she's unconscious?'," said Mrs Ramlose.
"We just looked at each other and then decided to go in [house]."
Mrs Ramlose said Mr Paahi tried to break the slide door to the house with pot plants with little success.
"I could see they [pot plants] were just bouncing off the glass. I picked up a chair and smacked it into the slide door and it just smashed."
When the pair entered the house they had to crawl on hands and knees.
"It was smoky as, there was only clear space about a foot from the floor," said Mr Paahi.
"We finally made our way to the bedroom and I could see the flames and feel the heat, but couldn't see anyone.
"The flames were coming from one corner of the room and so I knew we could get out safely. But she was pretty warm in there.
"Once we knew that no one was there, we just dropped everything and we were out of there. We [Mr Paahi] grabbed a hose and tried to put the fire out."
Mr Paahi was checked by ambulance staff but not treated.
Senior station officer Richard Anastasi, said Mr Paahi and Mrs Ramlose were very brave people. "It was pretty bad with the smoke and everything. We appreciate their quick actions to minimise the damage," he said.
"But we don't advise going into a burning building with the possibility of toxic fumes and not having ... proper protective gear." Mr Anastasi said the fire was caused by an electric blanket being removed from the bed and left on a cane chair.
It was a timely reminder to store electric blankets safely.
"The best way to store blankets is to roll them up and unplug them of course."
Mr Anastasi said at first the fire was thought to be suspicious but after talking to the owners they have ruled the fire an accident.
One dead as fires hit region overnight
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.