January 6, 2009

Two panic-stricken parents were beaten back by intense heat and flames as they fought desperately to save four children in their burning house today, not knowing they were probably already dead.

Misi Sau and his wife Fetu Sau were both badly burnt as they battled the intense heat in their Mangere, south Auckland, house about 12.45am today.

However, the Fire Service said the fire, which gutted the four-bedroom house, would have swept through the house with alarming speed.

Firefighters said they were faced with a 'terrible tragedy' when they arrived at the house.

As they turned into Nicola Place they immediately transmitted a second alarm when they saw the intensity of the fire and two more appliances joined the three which first answered the call.

It took firefighters at least two hours to put the fire out and by first light today the bodies of the four young victims were still in the house.

They had yet to be named but were believed to be aged 15, 11, nine and two. At least two were girls. The Fire Service said all four were probably overcome by smoke.

The two adults suffered massive burns and were today listed as critically ill in Middlemore Hospital.

South Auckland Fire Chief Larry Cocker said the two adults were only moments away from becoming the fifth and sixth victims as they fought to save their children.

'Most people under-estimate the speed that fire will spread through an ordinary dwelling,' said Mr Cocker, a firefighter with 40 years' experience.

He said initially investigations showed the fire started in the kitchen and spread very quickly.

'The parents would have been faced with choking smoke, heat, no visibility and you can imagine the distressed state they would have been in trying to locate their children and all the other occupants of the house and trying to get them to safety.'

Two other children in the house and two other people sleeping in a sleepout at the back of the house were saved.

The house was so badly damaged, it was impossible to tell if it was fitted with smoke alarms but Mr Cocker said the sleepout did not have smoke alarms.

'It just underscores the importance again of smoke alarms.'

He also said it showed how important it was to have an escape plan and that the occupants knew how to get to safety in a fire.

The alarm was raised after a group of young people saw the fire as they drove past.

'They helped get people out of the house and did a great job,' Mr Cocker said.

'In the three or four minutes it took our people to process the call and get here the place was alight from end to end.'