A toddler is fighting for his life and a man is in a serious condition following a house fire in Mount Wellington this morning.
It's the fourth major house fire in two weeks and the fire service is calling for mandatory smoke alarms in rental properties.
People pulled from the burning house cried out for rescuers to save their two-year-old boy still inside.
"All I heard was, 'I wanna go get my baby,'" says neighbour Fakaola Uilou. "The firemen were stopping them because it was unsafe. All I heard was, 'I need my baby. I need my baby.'"
The toddler was last out of the house, carried out by fire crews and treated behind a car.
"He was unresponsive so we administered CPR and we were successful and he was transported to hospital," says Auckland City fire area commander Mike Shaw.
He suffered smoke inhalation and severe burns. Three other children were rescued.
"When I came out I saw a lady up there and a lady down here, and the lady up top threw three kids down," says one witness.
Three adults, one in a critical condition with internal injuries from smoke inhalation, were also taken to hospital.
Neighbours fearing for their own properties were first on the scene and they started hosing down the house.
"I was scared," says Mr Uilou. "I thought my uncle's house was going to get burnt down. I was about to burst into tears."
Investigations into the cause of the fire are underway. The fire service says the property, which is owned by Housing New Zealand, had smoke alarms but it's too early to say whether they were working.
It comes after a spate of house fires that have killed five people. None had working smoke alarms.
"We want to recommend and remind everyone that it's a great idea to have working smoke alarms in everybody's home," says Mr Shaw.
The fire service says most fatal house fires happen in rental properties.
3 News
source: newshub archive
