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The deaths of four children in a south Auckland house fire this week has led to an upsurge in the sale of smoke alarms.
Police have said that the Mangere tragedy in the early hours of Tuesday morning may have been averted if the house had been fitted with smoke alarms that had been working.
Brenda Simati, 15, Taua Evile, 11, Mia Evile, eight, and one-year-old Tyreece perished in the blaze started by a pot of cooking oil bursting into flames on the stove.
Misi Sau, 50, and his wife Fetu, 39, were badly burned when they tried to save the four children but were beaten back by intense heat and billowing smoke.
Hardware shops in south Auckland have reported a brisk trade in smoke alarms since the tragedy with one telling of a man who bought 20 to give away to families with children.
Many people were opting for photo-electric alarms which detected smouldering fires with little visible smoke.
The fire prompted a call from the Insurance Council for the Government to consider making smoke alarms mandatory in houses to avoid unnecessary deaths.
- NZPA
