Frantic rescue bids at fire in vain

Firefighters and police work at the scene in Papatoetoe yesterday. Photo / Sarah Ivey

A woman died in a Papatoetoe house fire yesterday despite rescue attempts by family, neighbours and firefighters.

Flames leaped from the home after the blaze broke out on Trimmer Tce just after 1pm. Thick, black smoke spread to neighbouring properties.

Bill Toniga was inside his flat, which backs onto the house, watching the Commonwealth Games on television when he heard banging and cracking.

Thinking it was an intruder, he raced outside to see a hysterical woman running around her backyard. He climbed over the fence to help, with partner Pauline Taala.

"She [the mother] was desperate, saying, 'My daughter's inside, my daughter's inside', and there was nothing we could do," Mr Toniga said.

A number of people lived in the house. None spoke much English, he said.

At first, he and Ms Taala tried to help the woman, breaking windows at the back of the house.

"She [the mother] was desperate, trying to go inside, but we tried to hold her because it was too dangerous," Mr Toniga said.

The daughter could not be saved.

A firefighter was taken for medical treatment after burning his hand.

At the scene, Senior Sergeant Mark Rowbottom of Counties Manukau police said officers had not ruled out arson.

"We treat every fire as suspicious until it's proven otherwise. So the scene will be finished and guarded until a thorough investigation has been carried out. "

He said the Fire Service was alerted by a woman who lived in the home, who rang from the household phone.

Linda Thompson-Friend, who lives several houses away from the property, said she saw "the thick, black smoke" when she went outside for a cigarette.

"So I came back up and rang 111 and saw the flames from my kitchen window," she said.

Fire Safety Officer Roy Warren said staff were examining a back bedroom with an adjoining unit.

The inferno follows a blaze just before midnight on Saturday at a Housing New Zealand unit in Otahuhu that claimed the life of beneficiary Pete Johnstone and put Robert Henderson in Middlemore Hospital.