A fire in a sleepout on a Flaxmere vineyard caused heat and smike damage to the rest of the building but no serious injury. Photo/Paul Taylor
The occupants of a four-bedroom house on a Flaxmere vineyard are lucky to be alive after a woman woke to flames in her bedroom, says Hastings Fire Service senior station officer Mike Peachey.
He said all occupants, thought to number six, escaped serious injury from the 2.33am fire yesterday but
some were treated for smoke inhalation at the scene by the St John Ambulance Service.
"Smoke alarms would have made it a safer option - they didn't have smoke alarms in that room so she was lucky to get out," he said.
The fire was likely caused by an electric heater being too close to flammable material such as clothing and bedding, he said.
The house sits on a vineyard on the corner of Portsmouth Rd and Chatham St and is accessed from the entrance of a blueberry farm.
