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\nPhoto: RNZ\/Marika Khabazi\n<\/p>\n
Two people have been seriously injured in a house fire in Christchurch.<\/p>\n
Firefighters were called to a fire in the Christchurch suburb of Aranui on Friday evening.<\/p>\n
Fire and Emergency said the house on Bournemouth Crescent was well ablaze when crews arrived.<\/p>\n
It said the fire had since been extinguished and all people were accounted for.<\/p>\n
Nearby residents posted on social media that they had heard a “huge explosion” and others reported their house shaking as a result.<\/p>\n
Bournemouth Street resident, Scott, said he was listening to loud music at home when he felt that his house shook.<\/p>\n
He went outside to have a look at what happened, only to discover that a nearby house was on fire.<\/p>\n
“There was actually a guy screaming, because he was actually on fire, and he ran out of the house from what I saw, and someone aimed him with a fire extinguisher,<\/p>\n
“And you could see the flames from one of the down stair windows as I was walking towards it, starting to leap around inside the house, and from there the fire pretty much took off and crept out a window.<\/p>\n
“Thankfully by then there was about half the street out, going what the hell is going on, and they were calling fire brigade and the cops.”<\/p>\n
Scott said the house on fire was one of two, two-storey units that are linked.<\/p>\n
He said he heard there was a family living in the linked unit, who managed to get out safely.<\/p>\n
St John ambulance said two patients in a serious condition were transported to Christchurch Hospital.<\/p>\n