Family victims of fire and burglary in same weekend

Photo / APN

A horror weekend for a Tauranga family saw them become victims of both a house fire and a burglary within hours.

Initial investigations into the fire suggested a Jehovah's Witness man walking past the family's Fraser St, Merivale, house about 2.15pm on Saturday noticed the smoke, broke in and put it out.

However, that information, which was supplied to the Bay of Plenty Times, was later found to be incorrect.

Jo Hukatai, who lives at the house, said she and her three children, aged 10, 12 and 15, were at home when the fire broke out.

The family was doing their weekly bible study with Bjorn and Kelly Morgan.

Mrs Hukatai was preparing lunch for the group and had put a pot of oil on the stove to cook chicken nuggets.

She then moved to the bedroom, where she was when she heard Brother Morgan calling to her.

"He came down the passageway and he said, 'Jo, there's smoke'.

"When he stood there I could see the orange on his face, he went over to the oven and switched it off at the mains," she said.

By the time the pair left the kitchen, Mrs Hukatai said the smoke was so thick she could not see Mr Morgan from the waist up. "He just said 'get everybody out'."

Mr Morgan grabbed a towel, which was being used as a draught-stop in the house, to smother the blaze.

Mrs Hukatai called 111 before following her children and Mr and Mrs Morgan outside.

Mrs Hukatai said her children were most concerned about their cat, which Mr Morgan went back inside to rescue.

Once the fire, which damaged the stove, rangehood and kitchen wall, had been put out by firefighters, the family returned to the house and gathered their belongings.

On Sunday morning, Mrs Hukatai left the motel where the family had stayed for the night, and went home in a taxi.

As the car headed up the driveway, she noticed the toilet window was open.

Knowing she had taken care to lock the house, she asked the taxi driver to wait while she went inside.

Inside she heard a beeping sound and went into the kitchen to find the freezer open and emptied of food.

The ranch slider off the dining room was wide open and most of the valuable and sentimental items were missing from where the family had left them on their beds.

Gifts including a laptop, Playstation Portable and Nintendo DSi were all gone, along with jewellery, clothing and the family's weekly groceries.

Even the children's money boxes had been taken.

Mrs Hukatai said her children were shaken up by the trauma of the fire followed by an invasion of the family's home and had the day off school yesterday.

The family has been living in the Merivale home since January last year. While the family was insured, Mrs Hukatai said that "wasn't the point".