Firefighters say a Whangarei family were fortunate to escape a house blaze started by a lit candle, which was apparently knocked over by puppies on to paper and magazines.
Northland Fire Service safety officer Willie More said Estelle Jopling and her sons Shane, 7, and Douglas, 5, narrowly escaped death. The house did not have smoke alarms.
Ms Jopling said she and her sons had nothing left but the clothes they were wearing, but they counted themselves lucky to be alive.
She and her boys had been asleep in the home in Pipiwai, 43km northwest of Whangarei, when the fire broke out.
Puppies cause housefire in Whangarei
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