Firefighters: We knew who it was

As soon as they heard the call-out, veteran volunteer fire brigade chief Snow Buckton and his son John knew that the 15-year-old killed yesterday was probably Danielle Anne Finlayson - an outgoing girl with a loud cheer from a well-liked local family.

"We looked at each other and we knew who it was," he said.

The teenager was sleeping in a caravan when storms blew a tree on top of it yesterday at her home in Whangapara, 23km northwest of Whangarei.

Mr Buckton snr decided John would comfort the family while he worked in gale-force winds with 11 other firefighters and volunteers to free the body and secure the tree so that no one else was hurt.

It appeared a branch from a large puriri tree crashed into the caravan where Danielle was sleeping after the tree and a tree hut were blown over.

Mr Buckton said the girl was one of six siblings from a keen hockey-playing family who lived in a remote area. "[She] was always on the sidelines supporting her brothers and sister and anyone else on the team. She was always a good supporter," he said.

Her parents, whom he believed home-schooled the children, were always supportive of the children's sports, he said.

Two other teenagers, friends of Danielle's, were in the caravan when she died, he said.

"I was thinking how lucky, I suppose, if you want to call it that, that we didn't go to a triple fatality," he said.

Mr Buckton's son, an ex-member of the volunteer fire brigade who had been visiting for the weekend, and the volunteer fire brigade's deputy chief knew the family well and the pair were getting help with stress counselling.

"Obviously the family on [our] arrival were quite devastated. There was nothing we could do to help save her," he said.

There were many trees on the property and firefighters were concerned for their safety as they secured the tree. "It was quite frightening," said Mr Buckton.