‘Flames were up to ceiling’
Grandson races to grandmother’s rescue after overloaded power socket starts blaze
Meri Tukiri stood on the deck of her Raglan home screaming for help. Luckily the elderly woman’s cries, after 1.30am, woke her 22-year-old grandson Cochise Tukiri, who was sleeping in another house about 50m away with his father, mother and other siblings.
Cochise bolted through the house and sprinted up the hill to his “Nana Bob’s” bach.
By the time he reached it, the 76-year-old had run back inside and was trying to put the fire out with water, without success. She was enveloped in smoke.
Cochise’s mother, Patsy Tukiri, said she was extremely grateful her son woke when he did.
“We are grateful he got up to her in time to help his nana. If it was a minute later it would have been too late.”
Cochise grabbed his shocked grandmother who was standing by the kitchen door.
“It was too late by then. It had hit the roof. The flames were up to the ceiling and it was full-on smoke,” Patsy said. “What woke her was the smoke and the smoky smell, which was very lucky as we’ve been told you usually don’t wake up.”
As soon as the pair got outside, the house erupted in flames.
Meri was struggling to breathe having inhaled a lot of smoke so Patsy drove a car up and brought her mother-in-law down to the other house.
“We are not sure why he [Cochise] woke up. He said he heard a noise and thought it was our cattle — the sheep. We just get worried about dogs coming up.
“He opened his window and that’s when he heard his grandmother yelling for help.”
Two fire appliances from Raglan attended, along with a number of neighbours, to help put the fire out.
Meri was taken to Waikato Hospital with moderate injuries but was discharged yesterday afternoon.
Her son Mark and other family members were looking after her in Hamilton, and Patsy worried bringing her back to Raglan so soon could be too much for her weak heart, because the fire had destroyed most of her precious belongings.
“She’s lost pretty much everything, but at least she’s still alive.”
The house had been Meri’s bach before she decided to move into it permanently about 30 years ago, relocating from Hamilton.
Raglan fire chief and specialist fire investigator Kevin Homes said an overloaded multibox multiple electrical socket in the kitchen, which several kitchen appliances had been plugged into, was the cause of the fire.