A family have been left without a home following a fire that engulfed much of their kitchen a little over a week ago, but the family just want to find their missing cats.
Rachael Sheehan says her daughter was cooking on the evening of Sunday, 11 June and had a pot of oil on the stove.
Out of nowhere, the pot caught fire and although her daughter tried to put it out, the flames were instantly sucked up by the rangehood fan.
“Within seconds it was everywhere,” Rachael says.
She heard the kids calling out that there was a fire and rushed to the kitchen to shut the door, stopping the spread through the house.
The family then evacuated their Weka St home in just their pyjamas.
Neighbours came to the rescue, one smashing a window, the other feeding in a garden hose, which was able to extinguish some of the fire before fire fighters arrived.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand shift manager Daniel Reilly says two crews from Nelson responded to the fire around 5.30pm.
“It was initially reported as oil on fire in the kitchen and spreading,” he says. “When we arrived it was a relatively small fire, contained to the kitchen.”
He says while the fire damage was mostly contained to the kitchen, generally smoke damage is likely to be seen in other parts of the house.
Rachael says the kitchen of their Kāinga Ora home is completely destroyed, along with much of the laundry as the ceiling was ripped off.
She says smoke damage is evident in the rest of house.
Fire crews remained on scene until 7.20pm.
Rachael and her three kids spent the first night at her mother’s house – Rachael sleeping on the floor, while the kids shared a bed.
The next day, Kāinga Ora was able to find them temporary accomodation in a local motel, however she is unsure what the future holds.
“Not having any belongings and not knowing what the next steps is freaky. We could be moved into a temporary house or we might not. You don’t know where you’re going to end up.”
She says because they vacated the house with only pyjamas on, they had no shoes, clean underwear or clothes.
Work and Income provided them with $300 to purchase essentials.
“I cried in the supermarket the other day. It’s so overwhelming,” Rachael says. “It’s so much more expensive when you’re not at your house. All the food I had just bought that day is gone, purchasing all the condiments to cook with is so expensive.”
To make matters worse, three of the family’s four cats disappeared following the fire. One has since been found but their black and white boy Kevin and white girl Halo are still missing.
“A lady in Wakefield has taken them in for us until we get sorted, but we are still missing two. I go back to the house two or three times a day but none of the neighbours have seen them.
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“The whole thing has been absolutely devastating,” she says. “Kāinga Ora have been absolutely amazing.”
The family thought they may be able to go back the next morning but the house was boarded up while asbestos testing is undertaken.
“So, we have nothing. But at least we’re in a motel, there’s people sleeping in their car who are worse off, so we know we are lucky.”
A Givealittle page has been set up to help the family get back on their feet.
