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A retired couple lost nearly everything yesterday when their house exploded into flames during a renovation project.
A young contractor who was removing linoleum flooring suffered burns to his legs, and his colleague was treated for shock.
Fire Safety Officer Kevin Holmes said it was lucky no one died in the blaze at Robyn and Ewen Tonar's two-bedroom home in Brookview Court, in the Hamilton suburb of Flagstaff.
The fire began when fumes from a solvent the contractors were using to soften the glue on the linoleum came into contact with the naked flame of a pilot light in the gas hot-water cylinder.
Mr Holmes said that because of the solvent, the flames spread more quickly than in most house fires.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said she was cleaning her windows and had just made eye contact with Mrs Tonar, who was standing in the bathroom, when she saw flames bursting out of the roof.
"It was a huge fireball," she said.
"It just exploded, it was just such a big, big explosion and it just took over. I saw it, then I saw the guy run out ... I ran up. [Neighbours] put the hose on him. He had no skin from his knees to his feet - it [the fire] had burned all the skin off his legs.
"It's terrible, it's devastating for them. The whole house is black. Water is dripping down from the ceiling, on to the beds."
A stunned Mrs Tonar, going through the blackened remnants of her home looking for anything salvageable, said the first she knew of the blaze was when she heard the injured man screaming.
She said the flames came "straight under the floor, so of course it came straight up and burned his legs.
"He ran outside. The second guy said, 'Get out of the house, it's on fire'."
Mrs Tonar said the two flooring contractors were working on an insurance claim job, replacing linoleum damaged when the couple's washing machine flooded.
Mr Tonar, who is well known in hang-gliding and paragliding circles, was being consoled by neighbours after the blaze and was unable to talk to the Herald.
The home was extensively damaged. Its aluminium window frames were reduced to liquid by the fire's intensity, solidifying like silver candle wax as the metal dripped down brick window ledges.
Most of the windows at the home exploded, and windows on a caravan 2m away on the lawn also shattered.
Any items in the bedroom and garage areas that were not burned were damaged by water and smoke.
A Walker's Floorsanding spokesman said he would be telling the Department of Labour of the incident.
The spokesman said employees usually asked clients to turn off all appliances, including hot-water cylinders.
He could not say what had happened yesterday as he was "not 100 per cent sure on the full circumstances".
Mrs Tonar said she was told to turn off appliances such as her washing machine and fridge, but said she was not told about her hot-water cylinder.
Hamilton Chief Fire Officer Gary Talbot said the fire was unusual.
In his "30-odd" year firefighting career, this was the fourth fire he had heard of being caused by pilot lights igniting solvent fumes.
Waikato police spokesman Andrew McAlley said police were called to the scene, but it was classified as an industrial accident, not a criminal matter.
The Department of Labour and firefighters would investigate.
