Fire destroys family home in Napier, damages neighbouring houses

A large fire has destroyed a house in Napier, and narrowly avoided taking down other houses on the street.

Adam Hennessey was asleep in a sleep out next door to the Creagh Street house, when he woke up to flashing lights, which he said looked like a train going past.

"I came out and I saw it, and it had just started."

"It started, it was very small, and then it was really big, really fast."

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said within 10 minutes the fire had taken off, and the roof was caving in.

Neighbours watching on as the house goes up in flames. Photo / Charley Horiana

The house Hennessey was staying at sustained damage as well, with broken windows, melted curtains, and the fire spread into the roof.

"It's thousands of dollars worth of damage, all the weather boards will have to be replaced, the fire got up into the roof, so all along the eaves has to be replaced, all those weather boards replaced, we've got broken windows, the glass cracked."

They were told another couple of minutes and the house probably would have been destroyed as well.

"It was a bloody close call," the unnamed neighbour said.

The damage is nothing compared the shell of a house which is left standing next to them however.

Hennessey said there were about half a dozen loud bangs as the windows exploded.

With Napier's fire brigade attending an incident on the Napier-Taupo Road, it took about 25 minutes for the Hastings Fire Brigade to arrive, Hennessey said.

A house on Creagh Street in Te Awa, which has been gutted by fire. Photo / Paul Taylor

He said it was scary watching the flames crawling closer towards the house he was staying at, and waiting for the brigade to show up.

He said no one was in the house at the time of the blaze.

The unnamed neighbour said it was amazing watching the street come together, with one woman taking command and making sure everyone on the street was accounted for.

The owner of the Creagh Street Diary also brought bottles of water down for people who were standing on the street.

It is understood a couple with three young children lived in the house.

A spokesperson for Fire Services confirmed they received a call at 11.45pm on Friday night.

A neighbour said within 10 minutes the roof had collapsed. Photo / Paul Taylor

She said when they arrived the fire was "well-involved," and required 6 pumps plus a support vehicle to extinguish.

She said the fire was fully out by 3am Saturday morning.

She said the house's occupants were all accounted for when fire services arrived.

A police spokesperson confirmed they had attended the scene and were working with the fire services.

She could not confirm whether the fire was being treated as suspicious at this time, but said they had spoken to one witness at the scene.