Children stable after fatal fire

One of the survivors at the scene of the fire. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Two children injured in a Paraparaumu house fire in which their mother died are now in a stable condition in Auckland's Starship Hospital.

The fire broke out at the Callender Terrace house just after midnight yesterday, claiming the life of 25-year-old Roselle Ramirez.

Police scene examinations indicated a laptop which was charging in the lounge may have caused the blaze. Miss Ramirez' children, Reyna, five, and Jordan, seven, suffered smoke inhalation and were airlifted from Wellington Hospital to Starship Hospital yesterday.

The children were now in a stable condition in the intensive care unit, a hospital spokeswoman told NZPA.

Leahmay Mijares-Osik said her flatmate, Ms Ramirez, took the batteries out of the only smoke alarm in the house just hours before the blaze.

"She went in there and she took the battery and obviously didn't put it back ...who would have thought we would have a fire that night?" she said last night.

"I tried going from my room to the hallway that leads to her room but it was too smokey...I couldn't go in because then I would suffocate myself,"

Senior Sergeant Alasdair MacMillan said three adults and three children were in the house at the time of the fire.

Neighbours rescued another child from a bedroom after smashing a window at the rear of the house. Two adults and a baby were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

Central Fire Communications shift manager Chris Dalton confirmed the house had a smoke alarm, which had been disabled the day before.

"It went off at 5 o'clock for no apparent reason, and they removed the battery from it.

"They only had one working and if they had more than one working smoke alarm it wouldn't have been the tragedy that has unfortunately happened," he told NZPA.

- NZPA