Crying child saves family

A family who escaped through a bedroom window after discovering a fire at their Golden Springs (north of Taupo) home early on Sunday morning possibly owe their lives to one of the children crying in the night.

When she went to check on a crying child, the child's mother encountered thick smoke in the corridor of the family's single- storey rural house.

She quickly roused her three children and partner and got the kids out of the house through a bedroom window while her partner tackled the blaze with buckets of water.

A red hot flue - caused by debris in the chimney - started the fire in the roof cavity, the fire service says.

An appliance from Taupo was first to the scene and was joined by an appliance from Rotorua.

Fire fighters wearing breathing apparatus entered the roof cavity through a manhole in the ceiling to get at the fire.

The blaze badly damaged the roof cavity and one internal wall of the house. None of the family was injured.

"They are just lucky they woke early enough to get the children out before the fire got too big," says Rotorua fire safety officer Stuart Bootten.

He says the fire is a timely reminder to people to have their chimneys professionally cleaned and have smoke alarms installed.

Returning from Golden Springs, the Taupo appliance attended a car fire on State Highway 1 between Palmer Mill Rd and Oruanui Rd.

A 1997 Nissan Cefiro parked on the side on the road was fully involved when the fire service arrived. It was completely gutted.

The owner has been notified and police are investigating the fire.