Trio 'lucky' to escape blaze

Jocelyn Allen of Whangarei erects a temporary fence around the burned-out state house in Kerikeri's Jacaranda Place. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Three young people were "very, very lucky" to escape with their lives when their Kerikeri rental was gutted by fire early yesterday.

All three were asleep when the blaze started in the lounge of the Housing New Zealand home on Jacaranda Place about 1.20am.

The house had been fitted with smoke alarms but they were not working at the time. The trio - two women and a man, thought to be in their 20s - were woken by the noise of the fire and had to jump out the windows.

One woman, a visitor at the property, was taken to Bay of Islands Hospital in Kawakawa suffering the effects of the fire. She was expected to be discharged later in the day. The house was burning fiercely when volunteers from the Kerikeri fire brigade arrived. They could save only the garage and went home about 4.45am yesterday.

Fire investigator Craig Bain said the most likely cause was an accidentally discarded cigarette.

"Three young people are very, very lucky to be alive. They had to jump out the windows."

"They've lost everything but the clothes they were standing in."

Housing NZ had a programme of installing and helping tenants to maintain smoke alarms, but the alarms at the Jacaranda Place home may have been removed deliberately. Mr Bain urged Northlanders, whether they owned their own home or rented, to take responsibility for having working smoke alarms and a planned escape route.

The heat was so intense spouting had melted and a window shattered at a neighbouring house.