Passerby raises fire alarm, saves lives
Hot ash on a couch is being investigated as the likely cause of a fire that destroyed a Featherston St house on June 26, leaving two Palmerston North teenagers lucky to be alive and uninjured.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand specialist fire investigator Kerry O’keefe said the quick actions of a passerby, who banged on the door to the house and woke the two 18-year-olds, Ollie Walker and Matt Trask, had probably saved their lives.
He said a gas leak triggered by the fire about 1am had made the blaze difficult to control, but was not the cause.
He was still investigating how the fire began, but said it was not being treated as suspicious.
Hot embers, possibly from a cigarette down the side of a couch, were the likely starting point of the blaze.
O’keefe said the two young men had fallen asleep in the house, one downstairs on the couch, and one upstairs, and were most likely roused by a passerby knocking on the door to warn them.
‘‘It was sheer luck someone raced over and banged on the door,’’ O’keefe said.
He said the pair did not remember the knocking, but it was almost certain that action had woken them and saved their lives.
‘‘They would not have smelled smoke while they were asleep.’’
O’keefe said the fire had firmly taken hold in the huge ceiling space above the house’s dining and lounge area when firefighters arrived.
The gas supply ruptured, and although it did not fuel the fire, it was venting away from the house and made it difficult for firefighters to get close.
‘‘The message would be to be careful with hot embers and make sure you have smoke alarms. In this case, there were none.’’
The house was owned by Walker’s mother, who was away at the time.