A rescue dog woke its sleeping owner when a blaze broke out in their Whakatāne home.
Firefighters were called to the scene on Bridge St shortly after 6.30am on Friday as the man and the dog scrambled from the fire. Fortunately, his partner and their two young children were not at home at the time.
Cusack Partners property manager Christina Eichler told 1News their tenants had lost everything in the fire. The man was taken to hospital and has since been released.
The dog, adopted just three days before from an animal shelter, was fine.
"The tenant rescued the dog just three days ago from the pound and that beautiful animal rescued them this morning," she said.
“The house was completely gutted. We are working actively today on getting them a home.”
Fire and Emergency said the Whakatāne station fire trucks responded first before calling for extra resources. “When they arrived, they found that the house was well ablaze, so they transmitted a second alarm, which means they called for more resources.” It's understood crews responded from Whakatāne, Tāneatua, Ohope, Kawerau and Edgecumbe.
With five fire trucks at the scene, the fire was extinguished just before 8am.
Cusack Partners put out a call for clothing donations for the whole family on social media.
The community promptly responded with enough clothes and the company was now asking for items such as towels and bedding. The delivery point for donations was the Cusack Partners Whakatāne office at 71 The Strand.
FENZ and police did not know the cause of the fire yet but said a fire investigator was at the site.
SHARE ME