Unattended cooking caused fatal fire

A pot of cooking oil left unattended on a stove after a night of drinking and drug-taking led to the deaths of a woman and child, a Palmerston North coroner has found.

A three-year-old girl and a 22-year-old woman died in a house fire in the Manawatu town of Foxton on November 18 last year.

The girl's mother, 24, escaped from the house with the help of neighbours.

Their names have been suppressed by coroner Tim Scott, despite being widely reported at the time.

A report released by Mr Scott yesterday said the woman and child died after inhaling smoke from the unattended pot of oil, the Manawatu Standard reported.

Both women were "considerably affected" by alcohol, having drunk half a cask of wine and 1 and 1/2 boxes of beer as well as smoking a small amount of cannabis.

Mr Scott said it was unclear who put the pot on the stove.

"Whichever of the two women turned the stove on - and it may be that at the time, both were aware the stove was on - they forgot to turn it off, or they went to sleep ... because the stove stayed on, and there was evidence the next morning that it had not been turned off," he said.

"In the course of time, the oil in the pot caught fire. That ignited the house and led to this tragedy."

- NZPA