A teenager says he did not think about his own safety when he ran into a smoke-filled house in Milton, Otago, and rescued a young boy.
"I didn't really have any emotions at all at the time. I was just concerned about the kid," said 18-year-old Daniel Mackie. It wasn't until he had handed the child to its distraught mother that he realised what he had done.
"It kicked in a bit afterwards... the biggest adrenaline rush I have had in my life. I just felt rapt I had got the kid out. If I hadn't been there he might have died."
A woman, a man, at least three young children and a dog escaped from the Union St bungalow about 4.40pm on Wednesday, moments before it was engulfed in flames.
Bystanders said the man had escaped through the back door with a fourth child, but that was unable to be confirmed last night.