{"id":611329,"date":"2026-09-25T11:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T11:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/611329\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T11:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T11:46:10","slug":"christchurch-familys-dream-home-gutted-by-fire-less-than-a-month-after-moving-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/611329\/","title":{"rendered":"Christchurch family\u2019s dream home gutted by fire less than a month after moving in"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Barbosa returned, the house was engulfed in flames.<\/p>\n

Her mother had made it outside, and neighbours had already called emergency services.<\/p>\n

The family \u2013 Barbosa, her mother, her husband Aaron Joseph and their sons Phoenix, who turns 5 next month, and 18-month-old Hendrix \u2013 moved into the house on August 24.<\/p>\n

It was the first home they had owned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are really shaken. Every time I talk about it, I cry,\u201d Barbosa said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe dreamed so much about having our own home and then for something like this to happen in less than a month was really heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CarolinaCarolina Barbosa and Aaron Joseph with their sons Phoenix and Hendrix. They had been living in their first home for less than a month when the fire broke out.<\/p>\n

About half an hour after the family arrived at the scene, Barbosa said her mother collapsed and was taken to hospital by ambulance.<\/p>\n

She suffered a mild, stress-related heart attack and was expected to be discharged from hospital today.<\/p>\n

Phoenix had been badly affected by watching the house burn and seeing his grandmother fall to the ground, Barbosa said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just kept asking me if his grandma was going to die. It was horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family were uncertain about what would happen next as they waited to find out whether their insurance claim would be accepted.<\/p>\n

\"MuchMuch of the family’s belongings were destroyed or left smoke-damaged in the blaze. <\/p>\n

They had house insurance but not contents insurance.<\/p>\n

Their claim remains under review, with Barbosa saying the insurer was waiting for information about the cause of the fire.<\/p>\n

Fire and Emergency New Zealand said in a statement that the cause and origin of the blaze were found to be accidental.<\/p>\n

Crews were alerted to the fire at 4.27pm.<\/p>\n

Firefighting trucks from Woolston, Christchurch City and Anzac responded. <\/p>\n

The fire was well involved when crews arrived and was suppressed by 4.50pm.<\/p>\n

Barbosa said some clothes inside wardrobes had been recovered but were covered in smoke. The family waited for asbestos testing, which returned negative, before attempting to clean them.<\/p>\n

For now, all five are staying with friends \u2013 another family of five \u2013 meaning 10 people would be sharing one home.<\/p>\n

They were trying to find temporary accommodation, particularly as Barbosa\u2019s mother recovers.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe family have house insurance but no contents insurance. They are staying with friends while their claim is assessed.<\/p>\n

There were financial pressures too, she said.<\/p>\n

She has been given up to a month off work, but said she had no paid leave remaining.<\/p>\n

The family still has to meet its mortgage payments of $2934 a month.<\/p>\n

A Givealittle page<\/a> set up by a friend had raised $1920 by the time Barbosa spoke to the Herald.<\/p>\n

The family has also received clothes, toys, furniture and other essentials, with Barbosa saying they had little space to store further physical donations.<\/p>\n

She said the support from friends and community had given the family hope during an otherwise devastating few days.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have wonderful friends who opened their home to us.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a little point of hope there.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Barbosa said the priority was their children.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just want to give our children some sense of normality, get back into a routine and find somewhere safe for us to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rafaella Melo is a multimedia journalist with more than 10 years\u2019 experience in Brazil. She spent two years reporting for Hawke\u2019s Bay Today before joining the NZ Herald\u2019s Christchurch team in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Barbosa returned, the house was engulfed in flames. Her mother had made it outside, and neighbours had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,3595,4487,299,32255,2079,45190,1345,78,7494,4486,2686,111,43,139,69,131],"class_list":["post-611329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-by","tag-christchurch","tag-dream","tag-familys","tag-fire","tag-gutted","tag-home","tag-in","tag-less","tag-month","tag-moving","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-than"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611329","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=611329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}