The day after the fire workers were seen boarding it up. Photo / Stephen Parker
The day after the fire workers were seen boarding it up. Photo / Stephen Parker
It took no time at all for a Puriri Cres house to burn to the ground taking a family's belongings with it. But in that short time the community had already taken the family under its wing.
ABC Hillcrest manager Neroli Lemon was working late when the fire broke out about 5.40pm on Thursday.
She looked out the window and realised the house belonged to the family of one of the children who attends the centre.
"I just went straight down and made sure they were okay," she said.
"I brought Stanley up to the daycare, somewhere safe and secure that he knew."
Stanley, 3, is the youngest of two children in the family whose home it was. His brother is 10.
The boy had Treacher Collins syndrome, a genetic disorder which could result in facial deformities as well as hearing loss, a cleft palate or breathing problems.
Stanley was high needs and Lemon said the fire meant he had lost a lot of medical equipment.
The family spent the night in the hospital because of Stanley's condition and Lemon said they were being helped into housing by LinkPeople.
In the meantime, the ABC Hillcrest community had rallied around to help the family. Items had already been donated by Friday morning.
"Many donations have already come in which enabled us to buy some new clothes for them. The children have been bringing in their toys to donate," Lemon said.
"All we're doing is because the family comes to our centre. We want to help out and get them what they need.
"Stanley's one of our own. If anything happened to any of our families the community would be quick to help."
Lemon said members of the public were welcome to drop donations into the daycare.
The family did not want to speak to the Rotorua Daily Post but Lemon said they were appreciative.
"They are just humble people so they are very appreciative of everybody helping and they are lucky no one was hurt."
Rotorua Fire Station station officer Paul Glenville said the fire was caused by unattended cooking and it was a timely reminder to "keep looking while you're cooking" and to make sure your smoke alarms worked.
