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Mum loses everything in blaze
Thursday, November 08, 2012 • Sophie Rishworth
A YOUNG mother pregnant with her sixth child lost everything she owned in a house fire last night.

The fire service received multiple 111 calls at 10.30pm to alert them that a Lyell Road house was on fire.

Terangi Winitana lived there with her one-year-old son.

The 23-year-old said she had popped out for only five or 10 minutes to drop a friend down the road. When she arrived back her home was in flames.

“It went up so quickly. We weren’t even gone that long. I just can’t believe it.”

The three-bedroom Housing New Zealand house was fitted out with smoke alarms.

Preliminary investigations suggest the fire started at the back of the house in the washhouse, said fire investigation officer Derek Goodwin.

Firefighters were at the scene for five hours, into the early hours of the morning, to make sure the fire did not reignite.

Miss Winitana said she had lived at the address for about four years and had no insurance.

“I would never wish this on anyone, not even my worst enemy. I had just cleaned my house and was looking forward to my kids coming over.”

Miss Winitana’s four other children live with her mother, which is where she and her son will be staying until they can find somewhere else to live.

Investigations will continue into the cause of the fire.
“WENT UP SO QUICKLY”: In the five to 10 minutes it took to drop a friend down the road, Terangi Winitana’s Lyell Road home was in flames. The 23-year-old mother of five, with another on the way, has lost everything. Investigations show the fire started in the laundry at the back of her home. Picture by Dave Thomas
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