Family lose belongings in unattended cooking fire

A house in Pasteur Street is boarded up and the outside shows damage from a fire early Sunday afternoon. The family who live their got out without injury but lost most of what they owned.Picture by Liam Clayton

A Kāinga Ora house in Pasteur Street was badly damaged by fire on Sunday afternoon, a blaze that fighters said was caused by unattended cooking.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand received the first 111 calls about the blaze at the outer Kaiti house just before 1.15pm.

“Two rooms of the home were well involved in fire when the first crew arrived,” a senior firefighter said. “The family who lived there managed to get out safely.

“It started in the kitchen as a result of unattended cooking and spread to extensively damage the kitchen and lounge area.”

Firefighters were able to get inside and initially tackled the blaze with low pressure deliveries, then with high pressure hoses.

“We had it under control in 15-to-20 minutes,” the senior firefighter said. “There would be 40 percent fire damage to the home and the rest of it was badly smoke-damaged.

“The family living there have pretty much lost most of their belongings — either destroyed by fire or damaged by the smoke.”

Fire crews were at the scene until around 3.30pm and returned at 5pm to check the fire was completely out.

“We understand the family were accommodated by friends and family overnight Sunday.”

Fire and Emergency NZ regularly points to the risks of leaving food cooking on the stove unattended.

“You have got to keep an eye on what you’re cooking.”