Top hair, pity about the house

Chenoa Elsmore says she is almost certain she turned off the hair straighteners, which the fire service believe caused the blaze at the Beach Haven house. Photo / Chris Loufte

When Chenoa Elsmore applied her makeup and straightened her hair before a night at the movies, she never imagined it could lead to a fire that would engulf her home in flames.

But Elsmore, 18, received a text message on Friday night while watching Transformers 3 which read: "Bro, Lindy just said your house was on fire - are you all good?"

She didn't believe the message but rushed to her Beach Haven home anyway, on Fairclough St, about 11.30pm to see her room gutted and smoke damage throughout the house.

Birkenhead fire station officer Shane Doughty said a set of hair straighteners were believed to have caused the fire.

"It's a reminder to the public to check all electrical appliances before you leave the home," Doughty said.

Chenoa said she would take heed of that warning, though was "99 per cent sure" she had turned the straighteners off.

"I'm just in shock," she said yesterday morning while covered in soot. "Everything ... my whole room is gone, the rest of the house has bad smoke damage ... but my whole room is not there, just valuable things you can't get back."

Neighbour Vianney Robertson, 32, said he thought someone was having a bonfire in the backyard but went outside to double check. "Flames were billowing out of the window ... so I was inside quick smart and on to the phone to the fire brigade."

Meanwhile, firefighters left an early 1900s villa to burn to the ground early yesterday after running out of water at a remote Titoki farm.

A neighbour on Houto Rd, 25km west of Whangarei, sounded the alarm shortly after midnight. Five trucks were called from Whangarei and Dargaville, including a water tanker.

The house was unoccupied - the owners were in another dwelling on the other side of the farm at the time.

Fire safety investigator Craig Bain said there was no reticulated water supply and insufficient water in the tanker to put the fire out completely so it was left to smoulder. The cause of the fire was suspicious.

There was also a fire in Mangere, where the family who escaped their burning home yesterday afternoon were forced to watch it burn to the ground.