A Tauranga family escaped a house fire that destroyed their home in about 15 minutes, a relative says.<\/p>\n
Three fire crews battled the blaze at the Carmichael Rd property in Bethlehem this afternoon.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Shea Brown said little was left of her sister-in-law\u2019s home.<\/p>\n
Children, parents and grandparents were inside when the fire broke out.<\/p>\n
Brown said the family tried to put out the fire with buckets of water, but the flames spread too quickly.<\/p>\n
A Tauranga family escaped a house fire that destroyed their home in about 15 minutes, a relative says.<\/p>\n
Three fire crews battled the blaze at the Carmichael Rd property in Bethlehem this afternoon.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Shea Brown said little was left of her sister-in-law\u2019s home.<\/p>\n
Children, parents and grandparents were inside when the fire broke out.<\/p>\n
Brown said the family tried to put out the fire with buckets of water, but the flames spread too quickly.<\/p>\n
Relatives arrived within five to 10 minutes and raced to salvage what little they could before the house became fully engulfed.<\/p>\n
She said the fire destroyed most of their belongings and left little of the house standing.<\/p>\n
Brown said the family was still in shock and feared their missing pets had not survived.<\/p>\n
Brown said the fire appeared to have started on an exterior wall, although the cause was yet to be determined.<\/p>\n
A witness, who would not be named, said they followed a \u201cbig\u201d trail of smoke to the property about 3pm.<\/p>\n
They arrived to find a house with the roof collapsed, flames \u201cgoing up\u201d from the house and people \u201cspraying hoses over the fence\u201d at the front of the property.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere [were] pops, crackles and bangs from the house, and you could feel the heat from across the road,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The 12 firefighters arrived to find a 20m by 10m blaze in a single-storey residential dwelling.<\/p>\n
Pennefather said everyone in the home was accounted for and there were no injuries.<\/p>\n
About 6pm, he said the fire was out and one truck was still at the scene monitoring hot spots.<\/p>\n
A fire investigator was also there and working to determine the cause.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
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