Auckland family run from blazing home

Firefighters at the Papatoetoe house. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

An Auckland family were lucky to escape from a fire which destroyed their home and killed three pet dogs in the early hours of yesterday.

Melia Blackwood, 23, and her partner, Ben Cannon-Davis, 27, were sleeping in a basement room of the Mt Wellington house when fire broke out in the next room.

They woke to find their room well alight. They escaped but Ms Blackwood burned her hands trying to fight the fire.

Her mother, Nicky Mulvaney, woke after hearing noises downstairs.

She quickly woke her partner, Perry Catley, and their children, Kydd-William, 6, and Shelby, 4.

Neighbours woke about 4am to hear Ms Blackwood screaming for help. "We heard this 'Get out, get out', then we heard lots of shouts of 'Fire'," one said.

Ms Mulvaney said the family had almost finished renovating the house.

She said there was one working smoke alarm upstairs but it had not gone off early enough because the fire started downstairs.

An electrical fault is being blamed.

Meanwhile, the Fire Service is crediting a smoke alarm with saving a Papatoetoe woman and her three children.

The mother was sleeping on the couch when a fire broke out in her Housing NZ home about 6.30pm yesterday.

The alarm woke her and she escaped with the children, aged 11, 10 and 2.

The fire was caused by a heater the youngsters had pushed against curtains.