Residents in the Wellington suburb of Tītahi Bay say a fire which levelled one home and spread to a neighbouring property on Saturday night grew terrifyingly fast in high winds.
By Bill Hickman of RNZ
Emergency services were called to the blaze on Spur Grove at about 5.50 pm.
Fire and Emergency NZ said eight fire trucks attended the fire which also damaged another, nearby, home and destroyed caravans near the homes.
Today all that remained standing in the address where the fire began was a single chimney rising out of the blackened remains of the building.
Fire and Emergency said investigators were working at the scene on Sunday to determine the cause of the blaze.
Crews of firefighters had remained at the scene overnight from Saturday, they said, to dampen down hotspots and monitor for any flare ups.
Neighbours flee amid chaos
This morning Paul Longworth who lives next door to where the fire started was waiting to be let back into his house to gather a few possessions after he and his partner fled to a friend's home last night.
"We hear popping noises coming from next door around a quarter to six and then [my partner] came racing around saying the house was on fire," Longworth said.
He and his partner rushed to alert his son and grabbed some essential documents, passports and their pets before they got to safety.
"When the fire took hold the first thing we did was grab the animals out, but we've lost the caravan – it's completely destroyed and now we're just dealing with the consequences," Longworth said.
Longworth said it was heartbreaking to see the damage to his home after nearly 15 years living on this street.
"It's gone across and got into our roof, so they've had to pull all the ceilings down in our place," Longworth said.
He said strong winds last night fanned the fire, and it was only a matter of good fortune that the wind across the neighbourhood changed direction.
"When the fire first started the wind was blowing towards our house. We were lucky the wind changed and it blew the embers away from our house. Otherwise, we could've lost it completely," Longworth said.
'Boom and that was it'
Neighbour Jamaine Tuhoe said the fire spread quickly from the kitchen in the front of the house and engulfed the building after a large explosion.
He said he yelled to his neighbours to alert them to the danger.
"It was a little fire first – just coming out the kitchen window – and then I came outside and it just blew up.
"In a second it just exploded. The whole kitchen exploded and then the whole house was on fire. A big bang, 'boom', and that was it," Tuhoe said.
Spur Grove resident Kate Collins said the flames quickly grew to tower above the building.
"It was horrendous. Those flames were leaping as high as another story of the house and they were flicking over onto other houses," Collins said.
"It was terrifying."
Juanita Leynes said the wind was whipping sparks across the road and about the neighbourhood and firefighters at the scene told them they should be ready to evacuate if the flames spread further.
"Having four kids at home with us and a baby, having the firemen tell us 'Oh, you might need to pack a bag, just in case', [it] was pretty surreal," Leynes said.
She said while it only took minutes for fire crews to arrive at the scene the wait for help felt like "a long time".
A police spokesperson said the cause of the fire was unknown and police were making inquiries along with a fire investigator.
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