January 23, 2009

A family lost everything in a house fire yesterday -- except a wedding dress that had been sent off to have its hem sewn.
Michelle Lowe-Black and her three- year-old son sat sobbing on the roadside at Warea watching as firemen dampened down hotspots in their gutted home yesterday afternoon.
'We've lost everything. It's got the cars and everything,' Ms Lowe-Black said as she comforted a shaking and distressed Jucaedon in her arms.
'My house fell down. And all the windows fell down,' Jucaedon said, pointing at the remains of the house alongside State Highway 45.
Ms Lowe-Black said Jucaedon had found his big sister's cigarette lighter, using it to set fire to bedding in one of the bedrooms.
She grabbed the little boy, who was sitting watching the fire from another bed, and rushed to get water in the kitchen, but struggled with the low water pressure.
'I went back in but by then the flames were too high. He was getting in the way. It was him or the fire. He was the main thing: to get him out,' she said.
She rushed out of the house and over the road to the neighbours, who called emergency services.
'He's very guilty. He knows he's not allowed to play with lighters. He'll never forget this,' she said.
Ms Lowe-Black, her partner Gavin and their four children aged 18, 16, eight and three, had just shifted from Huntly before Christmas for a new start in Taranaki
Her partner had just begun his job at the Kupe project while she was to start a new part-time job last night at the Stoney River Tavern. The couple were to marry on March 21, having just sent out their wedding invitations.
'I've only just buried my mum, so it was something positive to look forward to,' she said.
But the only wedding gear to have survived the fire was her wedding dress that she had posted off yesterday to be hemmed.
Gone are all the wedding table wear, cutlery, glasses and the men's suits.
Jucaedon's one-year-old cat, Iti, was still missing by late yesterday.
'I don't know what we'll do,' she said. 'Everything I own was in there. I don't know anyone here.
'But I want to stay here because my kids love it. I don't want them to go back to Huntly,' she said.
The family was renting the house and had no household insurance.
Because of the Christmas rush and shift to Taranaki, she had put off taking out insurance, she said.
First on the scene at 2.45pm, Rahotu Fire Brigade deputy fire chief Gordon Wells said Ms Lowe-Black had made the right call to get out.
The 15 volunteer firefighters, many of them farmers from Rahotu and Okato called away from milking, had no chance of saving the house and cars.
It was already well alight when he was the first to arrive on the scene, Mr Wells said. 'There was no chance of saving it. You can't control an old dry house like that.'
Neighbour Anne Rona said she was arranging for the family to stay at the Puniho Marae last night.
'It's the first time I've met anyone here,' a grateful Ms Lowe-Black said.
Anyone wishing to assist the Lowe- Blacks can contact Mrs Rona on 06 752 8172.