\u201cWe are working to establish what has occurred and urgently locate the people unaccounted for.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree further people have been taken to hospital with injuries ranging from serious to minor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Va\u2019aelua said an investigation was underway by police and Fire and Emergency.<\/p>\n
Police were seen using a drone to examine the damaged property. <\/p>\n
Officers would remain on the scene with cordons established on Murvale Drive, between Janome Pl and Jandell Cres, said Va\u2019aelua. <\/p>\n
Emergency services on Murvale Dr, Bucklands Beach, after a fire tore through a home overnight. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
A homeowner on the street said he awoke to the sound of sirens early this morning after 2am.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everybody woke up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sounded like they broke the door down or something like that because of the fire,\u201d he said, describing hearing banging noises.<\/p>\n
He couldn\u2019t see the fire from his window, but he could smell the smoke strongly from inside his house despite having all his windows and doors closed.<\/p>\n
Fire crews battled the flames into the night, with neighbours reporting smoke billowing from smashed windows. Police have cordoned off part of the street while a fire investigator is due to return to the scene today to determine the cause.<\/p>\n
Hours after the blaze, the Bucklands Beach street still smells of smoke.<\/p>\n
Murvale Dr is cordoned off after a fire tore through a home overnight. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
Three police cars, a Fire and Emergency vehicle and a fire truck remain at the scene, with part of the road cordoned off. <\/p>\n
A spokesperson said five fire engines, one command unit, and one support vehicle were initially dispatched to the scene. <\/p>\n
Photos from the two-storey home show the blaze had gutted the insides, with walls reduced to blackened rubble and smoke continuing to pour out of the smashed windows.<\/p>\n
Firefighters can be seen using flashlights and head torches to survey the extensive damage inside.<\/p>\n
Another neighbour who had lived on the street for 40 years said police \u201cpoured down the street\u201d in the early hours of the morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen the fire brigade and ambulance came\u2026 police were here well before the fire brigade, and heaps of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was surprised he couldn\u2019t smell smoke or see flames after seeing the number of emergency services on the street.<\/p>\n
\u201cI only (found out) it was a fire this morning,\u201d the man said.<\/p>\n
A fire investigator will return to the scene on Murvale Dr this morning. Photo \/ NZ Herald<\/p>\n
Another neighbour said he walked down the street after hearing the commotion at around 4am.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just heard all the sirens and all that, so I just went down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I came out, I could smell the smoke, and you could see a haze like a fog, just all around.\u201c<\/p>\n
Hato Hone St John said two people, one in a serious and the other in a moderate condition, were taken to Middlemore Hospital. <\/p>\n
A third person suffering minor injuries was assessed by paramedics and treated at the scene. <\/p>\n
They referred to Police for more information. <\/p>\n
A Herald photographer at the scene said police had established cordons on either side of the fire at the intersection with Janome Pl.<\/p>\n
A police car was blocking Gills Rd as firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze.<\/p>\n
The photographer said neighbours watched on as the fire tore through the home, while others provided statements to police. <\/p>\n
The spokesperson said some crews remain dampening down hot spots.<\/p>\n
Police and St John have been approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe are working to establish what has occurred and urgently locate the people unaccounted for. \u201cThree further people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,51,34263,7972,46368,186,41008,3806,2079,1345,10053,46369,3242,111,43,139,69,7566,384,530,1237],"class_list":["post-54911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-auckland","tag-awake","tag-beach","tag-bucklands","tag-currently","tag-destroys","tag-east","tag-fire","tag-home","tag-house","tag-jolted","tag-large","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-outstanding","tag-people","tag-residents","tag-two"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}