Neighbour wakes man as house burns at 2am

Volunteers of the Kawakawa Fire Brigade pulled down ceiling panels and used a ladder to get into the ceiling space with a large hose.

A Moerewa man may have saved his neighbour's life by pounding on the door at 2am yesterday to warn him his house was on fire.

It is thought one man was asleep in the single-storey Otiria Rd dwelling and four more people in a sleepout when the fire broke out in the ceiling cavity of the main house.

The occupants and neighbour tried to douse the fire with a garden hose but it was hard to reach and they had little success.

Volunteers of the Kawakawa Fire Brigade pulled down ceiling panels and used a ladder to get into the ceiling space with a large hose.

Station Officer Alistair Leitch said the man suffered smoke inhalation. He was checked at the scene by a firefighter who is also a paramedic.

There was significant damage in the ceiling space and through about a tenth of the house. It had no smoke alarms.

"So it could have ended very differently if the neighbour hadn't woken him up," he said. The brigade had offered to return once the house had been made habitable, to install smoke alarms.

The Kawakawa volunteers were backed up by a crew from Paihia. The cause of the blaze is being investigated.