KEY POINTS:
Two panic-stricken parents were beaten back by intense heat and flames as they fought desperately to save four children in their burning house today, not knowing they were probably already dead.
Misi Sau and his wife Fetu Sau were both badly burned as they battled the intense heat in their Mangere, south Auckland, house about 12.45am today.
They are in a critical condition at Middlemore Hospital, where they were taken with two children who survived the blaze.
The Fire Service said the fire, which gutted the four-bedroomed house, would have swept through the house with alarming speed.
Firefighters said they were faced with a "terrible tragedy" when they arrived at the house.
As they turned into Nicola Place they immediately transmitted a second alarm when they saw the intensity of the fire and two more appliances joined the three which first answered the call.
It took firefighters at least two hours to put the fire out and by first light today the bodies of the four young victims were still in the house.
They had yet to be named but were believed to be aged 15, 11, nine and two. At least two were girls. The Fire Service said all four were probably overcome by smoke.
Family grieves
Outside the house where his nieces and nephews perished, relative Aveloa Sauvao, 66, fought with his emotions.
"Four kids died in there," Mr Sauvao told NZPA.
He said he had been at Middlemore all night and had spoken to Misi Sau.
"He was pretty sick. Both of them were trying to save the children."
One of the children saved from the fire was handicapped, he said.
He said the parents were faced with the fire when they came out of their room.
"They heard something banging and they tried to investigate, when they came out it was fire.
"They tried to open the door to get in ... but it was fire, all fire in there.
"He (Misi) tried to save what he can.
"He knew the one inside there was already gone. He turned around and saved the other from another room. He saved two of them."
He said Misi Sau was "not very good" in his grief.
Fire spread quickly
South Auckland fire chief Larry Cocker said the two adults were only moments away from becoming the fifth and sixth victims as they fought to save their children.
"Most people under-estimate the speed that fire will spread through an ordinary dwelling," said Mr Cocker, a firefighter with 40 years' experience.
He said initially investigations showed the fire started in the kitchen and spread very quickly.
"The parents would have been faced with choking smoke, heat, no visibility and you can imagine the distressed state they would have been in trying to locate their children and all the other occupants of the house and trying to get them to safety."
Two other children in the house and two other people sleeping in a sleepout at the back of the house were saved.
House gutted
The alarm was raised after a group of young people saw the fire as they drove past.
"They helped get people out of the house and did a great job," Mr Cocker said.
"In the three or four minutes it took our people to process the call and get here the place was alight from end to end."
He said the fire was not a long way from the Mangere Fire Station and was "absolutely raging" when the first firefighters arrived.
A second alarm was transmitted as the first crew drove into the street.
"I think the situation was lost probably before our guys left the fire station."
Tragedy
Mr Cocker said he was "blown away" by the tragedy of the fire and all firefighters would be offered counselling.
Mr Cocker said multiple deaths, including child deaths, "hit all the triggers" for a fire service with many young firefighters, many of them married with young families.
"We have our own critical debriefing team which will swing into action today to check everyone is okay. In south Auckland we have a lot of young staff with families, young men and women so it is not pleasant."
Mr Cocker, a veteran firefighter for 40 years, said dealing with fatal fires was always very hard.
"It never gets any easier when you see a child's body in a fire. It is not pleasant," he said.
The house was so badly damaged, it was impossible to tell if it was fitted with smoke alarms but Mr Cocker said the sleepout did not have smoke alarms.
"It just underscores the importance again of smoke alarms."
He also said it showed how important it was to have an escape plan and that the occupants knew how to get to safety in a fire.
Smoke alarms
Mr Cocker said the raced through the house with great intensity.
"In everybody's house, your house, my house, there is enough energy in our furnishings and what we live with on a day to day basis to burn anything.
"The speed of a fire in a modern dwelling is probably beyond the ken of most people.
"In any modern structure furnished with modern furnishings, the potential for a rapid fire is there all the time."
He said working smoke alarms "had to be an essential part of any home."
'Sound of explosion'
Local resident Jim Spicer said he was awakened by "the sound of an explosion" just after quarter to one in the morning.
"It was probably the sound of the windows being blown out", he said.
"My bedroom window was illuminated by a bright flare.
"By the time I got out into the street the whole place was engulfed in flames."
Mr Spicer said quite a large number of neighbours were out in the street by that time.
"It was very frightening", he said. "It was an intense experience."
He said the Fire Service seemed to arrive promptly, but nothing could be done by the time they arrived, so powerful was the blaze.
Mr Spicer said the neighbourhood was a good one, with a number of large families and "no trouble".
He said people are not able get close to the burnt-out house this morning, as there is a cordon around the area.
- NZPA and NZHERALD STAFF
