TWO puppies perished in a house fire in which the fire service says the human occupants were “fortunate” to escape.
The blaze broke out in the kitchen of the residence at 651 Whitford-Maraetai Road, near Beachlands-Maraetai, at about 1am on Thursday.
The house is a rental property, whose owners live overseas.
Resident Angela Subritzky, who spoke to the Times at the scene, says she and her two daughters who were living at the house are “pretty devastated”.
She says they had three young puppies living with them, and two were killed in the fire.
Six fire service appliances attended the blaze — with two coming from Beachlands and Howick, and one each from Otara and Papakura.
Beachlands Volunteer Fire Brigade chief, Shane Rutherford, says “it was fortunate something woke” Ms Subritzky and her daughters because the home was not fitted with smoke alarms.
Ms Subritzky says her seven-year-old daughter was sleeping with her in bed when they awoke to a home full of smoke. “There was thick smoke and I heard windows breaking downstairs.”
Her 14-year-old daughter, who was sleeping in another bedroom, was able to escape out an upstairs window. She walked along a narrow piece of roof and onto a wooden pagoda.
An upstairs bedroom and en-suite, the ceilings, kitchen and laundry were gutted, while the whole of the property has been smoke damaged.
Ms Subritzky had been operating her company Organic Hair Clinic from the premises.
“I just started my business here,” she says.
Mr Rutherford says when the Beachlands Volunteer Fire Brigade arrived at the scene first, they found the blaze “well-involved upstairs and in the kitchen”.
He says it was fortunate that the rural property has a swimming pool because the fire officers used water from it to extinguish the blaze. “It probably enabled us to save half the house.”
Mr Rutherford urges all homeowners to ensure their properties are fitted with smoke alarms.
