In today's headlines with Wilhelmina Shrimpton, huge inequities in policing, fire in central Auckland apartment, and concern over child language skills.
A Rotorua solo mother with three children who helps feed those in need has lost her home of 13 years and all their possessions after her young son accidentally started the blaze when playing with a lighter.
“We’ve lost everything, everything’s gone.”
The woman, who was too upset to be named, is a volunteer and runs the Koutu Pātaka Kai community feeding hub from her Frank St rental property in Koutu, Rotorua.
A damaged house on Frank St in Koutu, Rotorua after a fire on Tuesday night. Photo / Kelly Makiha
She told the Rotorua Daily Post through tears that the fire started on Tuesday night after her 7-year-old son was playing with a lighter.
She said she and her son were home alone cleaning up one of the two bedrooms at the small rear section house before heading to the kitchen to start dinner.
She said she didn’t realise her son had a lighter in the bedroom but she saw him with it when they went to the kitchen so told him to be careful and stay at the table with the lighter and candles.
“I didn’t realise there was a spark in the room until we saw the smoke and we had to get out.”
She didn’t have time to get her phone and just grabbed her son and ran outside with no shoes on.
“It was so sad watching it all burn... Just sitting under a tree watching it burn, everything gone in flames.”
The inside of the Frank St home destroyed in a fire on Tuesday night. Photo / Kelly Makiha
The woman spoke to the Rotorua Daily Post from her home on Wednesday as they returned to inspect the damage. She said nothing could be salvaged and she was now going to stay with a friend until she could find a new house and get back on her feet.
“We lost everything, everything’s gone. I have lived here for 13 years. We have lived here since my firstborn was 5-years-old, he’s now 18. It is the end of our home.”
She said she was still wearing a jacket and shoes someone had given her on Tuesday night as she sat on the side of the road watching her home burn.
Fire crews were called to the Koutu house just before 6pm. It took three hours to extinguish the fire and a Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman has confirmed to the Rotorua Daily Post the blaze wasn’t considered suspicious.
Meanwhile, the woman said she was trying to look on the bright side. Her teen son and another teenager, who also lives at their home, were away in her car when the fire broke out. Her other daughter, aged 10, was also not home.
“We are okay... I have a car, no house, but at least I have a car.”
A woman who lost her Frank St home in a fire ran the Koutu Pātaka Kai community feeding pantry from her driveaway. Photo / Kelly Makiha
The woman said she was well-known in the community for her role as the kaitiaki for Koutu Pātaka Kai and helping Love Soup and other food distribution organisations.
She said people would come to her home and help themselves to the kai from the cupboard she kept in the driveway. Others who wanted to donate kai would leave it in the cupboard too.
She said she hoped to get the Pātaka Kai cupboard open again once she found a new house. Her landlord had property insurance but she didn’t have contents insurance.
She said for a long time she had wished for a bigger house as five of them lived in the two-bedroom home.
She tried to remain positive by saying maybe now she could find a bigger home.
“I’ve got to start again... When we get a bigger house we will put the pātaka back.”
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
