Unattended pot has dire result

Firefighters from Kaitaia and Houhora had no chance of saving a small house at Kaimaumau from total destruction on Saturday evening. Kaitaia station officer Craig Rogers said he had seen smoke on the horizon before the appliance he was driving had left Kaitaia, a little before 6pm, suggesting that there would not be much left to save by the time he reached the scene some 40 kilometres north.

"It was on the ground by the time we got there," he said, leaving nothing for the crews aboard the two Kaitaia appliances and one tanker, and those aboard an appliance and tanker from Houhora, to do apart from ensuring the flames didn't spread.

An outbuilding was scorched but no other damage was done, although a Kaitaia crew was called out again at 10.40pm to attend to a burning stump.

The house, which was not insured, was occupied at the time, but no one was hurt.

Chief fire officer Colin Kitchen said an unattended pot on the stove had been responsible for the blaze, reinforcing the message he and others had repeated so often.

"Unattended cooking is one of the more frequent causes of house fires we are called to," he said, "and I'll say it again. Never leave a pot unattended. It doesn't take much for something to go wrong, and when it does the results can be devastating.

"Unattended cooking kills, and while no one was hurt this time that hasn't always been the case in the past, and won't be in the future."

The need for care was particularly great in relatively remote areas where help was never going to arrive quickly.

"If it's going to take a crew half an hour to get there, then people and property in this situation can be in real trouble," he added.