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A teenager made a desperate bid to rescue his younger brother as their Christchurch home burned to the ground, almost claiming the life of his sibling and their father.
The 16-year-old dashed back into the fire after he heard his mother count each of her seven children, realising her third-youngest was still inside with her husband.
Preparing to brave the flames herself, Lizzie Tugaga made her way towards the property on Hoon Hay Rd to help search before she saw her eldest return with his sibling.
“I’m so lucky he heard and went inside to get his little brother,” she said.
While thankful her whānau is safe, Tugaga and her family are left with the trauma of the blaze, where they watched everything they owned go up in flames. The expression “left with only the clothes on their backs” doesn’t even apply.
Their car, appliances and sentimental belongings are now nothing but a memory. The ongoing spike in the cost of living saw the family’s contents insurance lapse, with that money put into urgent repairs for their car.
The Tugaga family lost everything in the flames after their house and car burned over King's Birthday Weekend. Photo / Supplied
‘Fire! Fire! Get out’
Tugaga recollects the events of June 2 well. It began as most nights ended - the kids all tucked up in bed and the diligent mother folding the washing and watching the late television news.
“I thought he’d tripped or fallen,” said Tugaga on hearing her name called. The theory was quickly dismissed with his next words.
“Fire! Fire! Get out,” her husband called.
Calm turned to frenzy. Tugaga said she tried not to panic and simply focused on the family to wake her sleeping children and evacuate them to safety.
Their eldest heard the yelling and helped make the rounds, at one stage slamming loudly on his sister’s door to wake her from a deep sleep.
Flames and smoke began to quickly appear as Tugaga herded her bunch outside, to a section of the footpath on the other side of the road.
Lizzie Tugaga, the mother of seven children aged between 5 and 16 years old. Photo / NZME
She began her routine child count, rehearsed over many years of running a large family. One was missing. The third youngest, still trapped in the flames had not made it out of the house - he was in the property with the husband.
Her shocked realisation switched her eldest to action mode, dashing into the flames to find the lost child.
“My other son tried to help me [call out to the child] but he started to panic and ran out of breath,” said Tugaga.
She turned to a neighbour who’d come to check the commotion, asked her to look after her youngest and prepared to brave the flames herself to help the search.
Before she could reach the steps, out came the eldest with the missing child in his care. “Mum, don’t run. He’s out now,” he said.
The husband was still inside and surrounded by the smoke and dark. He reached the door and felt like fainting. Smoke had entered his lungs. Spurred by desperation to see his family, he forced the door open and escaped the heat.
Flames were large and rising from the property, the heat could be felt from the other side of the road. Tugaga said people had filmed the fire but never called anybody for help.
Everything the Tugaga family once called theirs is now gone. Photo / Supplied
‘Mum - what are we gonna do?’
And there they stood. A family of nine immigrated from Samoa to Christchurch shortly before the quakes, without extended family and now nothing to their name.
Her answer arrived in the form of a jumper, handed to her just then by a passing commuter who had noticed her youngest kids standing in the cold with singlets.
“I’m so sorry, this is the only thing in the car,” she said, handing them the clothing piece.
Immediately followed a second act of kindness. The neighbours coaxed them back to their house. The neighbours had a child in the same class as one of Tugaga’s sons - they’d lived a few houses apart for years and never even known.
It was the start of an influx of community gestures that Christchurch has become known for in times of crisis.
The cost of living crisis saw the family’s contents insurance lapse, as they put that money into urgent repairs for their car, now destroyed. Photo / Supplied
The host put a request on a school-parent social media page, calling for anything people might have to offer the family in need.
A car was donated by a fellow parent for them to keep and food and clothes arrived in droves.
Becky Steetskamp, a Halswell local, heard the family’s case and immediately knew her large property would be perfect for the homeless group.
“My husband kept asking ‘Are they coming to stay?’ and I was like ‘Just give them a chance’,” she laughed.
“We’d only just met these people. I had to build enough of a relationship in the short span of time so [Tugaga] knew she could trust me and they could come over.”
Their two children were crammed into one room, leaving four rooms spare to house the large family.
(From left to right) Glenn and Becky Steetskamp, Lizzie Tugaga and Nicky Vili, who helped the family. Photo / NZME
But the Tugaga clan opted to cram into one of the larger bedrooms.
And on Friday last week, Tugaga secured a rental four-bedroom property in a similar area, which came as a huge relief.
Starting from scratch, she says, is exhausting work.
From little things like toothbrushes and toilet scrubs to large appliances like dryers and freezers, these will need to be accumulated from scratch without further support from those around them.
