Neighbours wake family just in time
A couple kicked and banged on their neighbours’ gate to raise the alarm after a fire took grip of a Masterton home.
A man was hurt in the fire, but the other five occupants escaped unhurt from the Cameron Cres home about 6am yesterday.
Greg and Rowena Harris were first alerted to the blaze when they glimpsed a flash through their front door’s smoked glass windows.
‘‘At first I thought it was lightning, but when I turned around to see flickering yellow and orange I knew straight away it was a fire,’’ Greg Harris said.
He grabbed his cellphone and called 111 while they rushed next door. The large gate was closed and there was a dog inside so they kicked and banged it until they got a response from in the house.
Harris was astonished how quickly the fire grew.
‘‘I’ve never seen anything like it. It was a matter of half a minute and the house was well alight. The flames were rising up as high as a house.’’
The house’s owner, Wendy Gilbert, has lived there for 23 years and was devastated by what happened.
Her adult son’s arm was injured in the fire and he was being treated at Wairarapa Hospital for burns.
Her three grandchildren and son’s pregnant partner were also in the house at the time, but escaped unharmed.
‘‘When I saw the flames in the shed I ran inside and told my son and we grabbed the kids and got them out,’’ Gilbert said.
Gilbert emerged from the back
"I've never seen anything like it. It was a matter of half a minute and the house was well alight." Neighbour Greg Harris
door and opened the gate and Rowena Harris rushed inside to help get the children out, Greg Harris said.
He stayed on the phone talking to emergency services while all the occupants were woken up and escaped from the house.
Masterton Fire Service incident controller Doug Flowerday praised the quick actions of the neighbours and said the incident served as a powerful reminder of the need for smoke alarms.
‘‘It was of some concern to us that there were no smoke alarms in the house. We can’t endorse smoke alarms enough. They’re a complete lifesaver in these sorts of situations.
‘‘The neighbours did a very good job. They were vigilant in seeing the fire and they did all the right things to get the occupants out,’’ he said.
Four fire crews from Masterton and Carterton stations attended the blaze with additional support from Hutt Valley.
Fire Service staff and police are investigating the cause of the fire.
Gilbert said she believed the fire started in the shed next to house, but she did not know how it would have been ignited.
A car that was in the shed was badly damaged. The injured man burnt his arm while moving the car from the property, Harris said.