The house was totally destroyed in the blaze. Photo / supplied
Dean Corbett didn't even have time to dress after being confronted with a wall of fire inside his rented Tokoroa home.
The screams of his friend Awhina Harris, yelling at him to get out of the Balmoral St house, woke him just before 2am yesterday.
Yesterday Mr Corbett returned to the scene with the Herald, barefoot and wearing the only clothes he now owns, to recount how he, his friend, and her two young children managed to escape.
"She got up and went to the toilet and just started screaming.
"She came and woke me up. I said 'get the kids and get out of here'."
Mr Corbett grabbed a pair of jeans and peered out of his bedroom door to be confronted with, "a glow".
He was still trying to put his jeans on as he opened his bedroom window and lifted the children to safety, following quickly behind.
"My pants were halfway down when I put the kids out, I was trying to put them out first ...
"By the time we'd hopped out of the window [fire] was all through the house."
The reality of what happened was still sinking in yesterday.
The 52-year-old said he planned to stay with a friend and borrow clothes until he could make an appointment at the Ministry of Social Development on Monday to get an emergency benefit.
He was hoping to source another house to rent through a rental company, he said. Neither he or Miss Harris had insurance.
Miss Harris said she and her two children had been treated, as a precaution, for smoke inhalation at the scene.
She said all four of them would probably have been dead if she hadn't woken up and noticed the fire.
Taupo and South Waikato fire safety officer Stu Craddock said the fire appeared to have started in the kitchen - just a few metres from Miss Harris' bedroom.
He was still trying to confirm the cause, but the fire was not deemed suspicious.
Tokoroa fire chief Dave Morris said the house was a complete write-off and uninhabitable.
He agreed that if it wasn't for Miss Harris waking up, they would have been dealing with four bodies.
"They got out and stayed out.
"We have lots of people who have gone back in after thinking 'oh my dog', 'oh my cat', 'oh my microwave' and died.
"It's sad they've lost their possessions, but they've got their lives."
However, Mr Morris was unimpressed the house was not equipped with working smoke alarms.
"These four people are absolutely lucky to be alive.
"There were no working smoke alarms in the house. If there were, they would have had advance warning."
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