Fire hits Hamilton family twice
A Hamilton family have been dealt a double blow losing everything in two separate house fires within a week.
But Colin Payne, who lives at the Dinsdale home ravaged in the blaze on Tuesday, says the community have been overwhelmingly generous with offers of help.
‘‘People have been rallying around bringing us pots and pans, furniture, which has been appreciated,’’ he said from outside the damaged Newcastle Rd home.
Payne rents the home with friend Jessica, her son William and his two boys aged three and five. He’d popped out around 5.15pm on Tuesday when fire broke in the bedroom where the two young boys were watching cartoons on the computer.
‘‘I got home at five to six and it was all over rover – the house was beyond saving.
‘‘I could see the smoke coming up Dinsdale hill and came round the corner to find my dog on oxygen.’’
Payne’s Greyhound-pitbull cross Sky was overcome by smoke inside.
‘‘She got a real big scare and won’t leave my side.’’
It’s believed one of the boys was playing with a lighter or ignition source in the bedroom, which sparked the blaze.
Their father had smelt something odd and went to check on the boys. Fire had started burning around the bed.
‘‘They were under the bed. And the fire was starting to flame. He grabbed the kids and got them to the grandmother downstairs.’’
William returned to the room and tried dousing the flames with pots of water.
‘‘In that few minutes from when he went downstairs and back up, it was too much for him to handle.
‘‘Everything in that room is reduced to rubble.’’
The blaze comes six days after Payne’s son-in-law Keith and his eight year old son Justin’s Cranshaw Dr home was ravaged by fire.
The pair lost all of their possessions along with Christmas presents and Keith’s brother’s pet axolotl in the blaze. They were uninsured and currently staying with family in Te Awamutu.
‘‘It’s a weird coincidence, just a week apart but we’re doing well.’’
Payne was still staying at the property while William had found a place to board.
‘‘All the furniture is gone and what’s not burnt is smoke and water damaged. The bedroom, the bathroom is totalled. Every ceiling is blacker than black.
‘‘We won’t get power and water on until after Christmas now – they had to turn the water off as all of the pipework in the walls burst and flooded the flat out.’’
Offers from the public kept coming, he said. A Dinsdale woman whose mother died a few years ago had offered an entire three bedroom house full of furniture.
‘‘I greatly appreciated it, but I am fully insured for contents. I said I’d take it off her hands but I’ll buy it, I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing anything else.’’
The problem was finding other rental accommodation.
‘‘It’s almost impossible to get a place.’’
Fire Investigator Kevin Holmes urged all parents to keep lighters and matches out of reach of children. The house also didn’t have
‘‘All the furniture is gone and what’s not burnt is smoke and water damaged. The bedroom, the bathroom is totalled.’’
working smoke alarms at the time as painting was set to be done.
‘‘If anyone out there has a child who has an unhealthy interest in fire or is worried about that, we have the Fire Awareness Intervention Programme, which is free and confidential.’’
Colin Payne