Woman saves her three children from Hamilton house fire

A mother saved her three young children from a burning house in south Hamilton this morning.

The mother was bathing her one- and three-year-old children, and a three-month-old baby was sleeping in a cot in another room, when the fire started about 11am in her Pine Ave home, police said.

She got the two children out of the bath and noticed smoke coming out from under one of the children's beds as she went to her room to dress.

"Grabbing the three-month-old and moving him to the lounge of the house, the woman tried to extinguish the fire with a bucket of water but by then it had become too involved," police said.

She then ran out of the house with her children.

The mother suffered singed hair and a small burn on her neck, and was taken with her children to Waikato Hospital to be checked for smoke inhalation.

Residents living near the back of the house were believed to be the first people to raise the alarm. Police officers carrying out a routine bail check nearby also saw the flames.

The fire did not appear to be suspicious, although fire service investigators were investigating the cause.

- NZPA