October 27, 2008

A new smoke-alarm battery fitted at the weekend has helped save the lives of seven people in a Christchurch house.
An Avonside mother said she had the alarm to thank for protecting her four children after an electrical fault caused a fire in their ceiling early yesterday.
The seven people in the house, including four children, were woken about 4.30am by the alarm in the hallway and rushed out of the house.
A new battery had been put in the alarm on Saturday.
The family declined to have their surname published as their house could not be secured, but mother Ally said: 'If we hadn't put that battery in there's a chance we wouldn't be here today.'
Fire Service station officer Paul Rodwell said the fire demonstrated the necessity for smoke alarms.
'It's a good lesson for people who think it can't happen to them,' he said. 'It (the fire) was caused by an electrical fault in the roof of the house, so by the time they woke up the whole roof was ablaze.'
Father Stuart said the priority was to get the children out of the house. 'It was just a case of grabbing the kids out of bed,' he said. 'Once they were out of the house we could start worrying about everything else.'
Ally said she grabbed their nine-month-old baby while Stuart woke the others.
Oldest daughter Kristee, 11, and twins Hannah and Matthew, nine, said they thought they were being woken for school.
The family agreed smoke alarms were essential. 'You're stupid not to, you really are. The cost of a house and a life against a smoke alarm is really nothing,' Stuart said. 'It easily could have been a hundred times worse.'
The fire caused extensive damage, but most of the family's possessions were saved