Mother recalls night of horror

Kahvan, left, Shaydine and Cayden Beatty with their father Grant. Kahvan and Cayden died in the fire.

The mother of two young boys who died in a house fire in Tauranga last month has written an open letter thanking firefighters and others for their efforts to save them.

Kahvan Beatty, 4, and his brother Cayden, 2, perished in the early morning blaze, which a forensic examination found began when a heat source was placed on a couch.

Natasha Beatty and her daughter Shaydine, 6, escaped the fire, which engulfed the front of the weatherboard house in minutes and prevented anyone reaching the boys.

Mrs Beatty's letter, published in the Bay of Plenty Times yesterday, recalled the events of June 16, which she said was "the worst day of my life".

Mrs Beatty said the first she knew of the fire was when she heard a loud banging noise at 7.20am.

She jumped out of bed and saw her daughter, who she took outside before returning to the house.

"I ran back through the smoke-filled hallway into the kitchen. I only got two feet when the heat on my face was overwhelming and my hair was singeing," she wrote.

Mrs Beatty ran back outside, breaking windows at the front of the house and shoving a hose inside.

"I screamed out to my boys. I heard one screaming in sheer terror: 'Mummy, mummy.'

"I screamed back: 'Get on the ground and crawl to mummy'."

Powerless to do anything, Mrs Beatty ran to a neighbouring house, where her cousin and husband Grant were asleep.

"I saw no one so I ran back up and down the street screaming [for help]."

Neighbours and passers-by held her back as she tried to return to the house.

"I stood helplessly watching intense fire leaping from the roof ... Then a big wave came over me and I looked at the sky. I knew then that my boys had gone. With that I was beside myself."

Firefighters were at the scene six minutes after being alerted to the fire, but Mrs Beatty said it felt like hours.

She criticised the way she was told her sons were dead.

"The way we were told was not nice. Other people were all around and it was bluntly said."

She ended her letter by thanking firefighters and others who tried to enter the house to help her sons, and people who gave kind words, support and donations.