“They went to get one bucket to douse it out and, by the time they looked around for a second bucket, the wall had already inflamed too much for them to do anything.
“The whole house went up in 15 minutes.”
The family escaped safely, she said.
Relatives arrived within five to 10 minutes and raced to salvage what little they could before the house became fully engulfed.
She said the fire destroyed most of their belongings and left little of the house standing.
Brown said the family was still in shock and feared their missing pets had not survived.
Brown said the fire appeared to have started on an exterior wall, although the cause was yet to be determined.
A witness, who would not be named, said they followed a “big” trail of smoke to the property about 3pm.
They arrived to find a house with the roof collapsed, flames “going up” from the house and people “spraying hoses over the fence” at the front of the property.
“There [were] pops, crackles and bangs from the house, and you could feel the heat from across the road,” they said.
A witness followed a “big” trail of smoke to find a house fire on Tauranga’s Carmichael Rd. Photo / Zoe Blake
Fire and Emergency NZ northern fire communications shift manager Josh Pennefather said three crews from Tauranga and Greerton stations rushed to the scene after receiving calls about 3.20pm.
The 12 firefighters arrived to find a 20m by 10m blaze in a single-storey residential dwelling.
Pennefather said everyone in the home was accounted for and there were no injuries.
About 6pm, he said the fire was out and one truck was still at the scene monitoring hot spots.
A fire investigator was also there and working to determine the cause.