A teenager rescued two siblings after he says a cooking oil fire broke out at his central Auckland house.
The residents of the Mayn Ave property in Mt Roskill are now without a guaranteed place to stay after the fire gutted the suburban house this afternoon.
"The whole kitchen was on fire. I saw the flame," said the teenager named Woo.
"I ran outside and called my older brother. We ran out," Woo added.
The blaze was well-involved by the time firefighters arrived, but all people at the property have been accounted for and nobody was reported to be injured, authorities said.
Woo said the family went to a neighbouring house, where the residents helped shelter them.
"Once we all got outside, that's when I heard the 'boom'," he said. "Luckily we all got out ... I grabbed the babies and I ran outside."
Woo said at one point in the commotion, his older brother thought someone was being attacked.
Woo said his family probably lost many possessions in the blaze, and now had nowhere certain to stay.
"We had three TVs, heaps of clothes. Now we have nothing."
He said the fire's ferocity meant the family had to get out and leave behind everything they could not carry.
"If we had stayed there, the smoke would have got in our faces."
The roof was visibly damaged, with a big hole and scorch marks on the tiles.
He said the family would probably try and see if any relatives elsewhere in Auckland could help.