The Fire Service is investigating whether a small boy playing with a lighter started a house fire which nearly claimed the lives of his mother and twin siblings in south Auckland yesterday.
The woman had been sleeping with the two-year-old twins in a bedroom of the Druces Rd, Wiri, house when she was woken by a smoke alarm and saw smoke pouring into the room, Papatoetoe senior station officer Terry Jenner said.
She grabbed the twins and rushed towards the front door through a hallway, which was filled with smoke down to a metre above the floor.
As she ran towards the front door she saw a ball of fire in the living area.
"Quite honestly it was just a ball of fire -- it was totally engulfed," Mr Jenner said.
She managed to get outside and was screaming for her son, who she feared could still be inside, but quickly found him hiding in a garden shed.
Mr Jenner said investigators were looking at whether the boy had started the blaze while playing with a lighter but had not ruled out other possible causes.
The firefighters who attended the blaze were on their way back from another serious house fire in nearby Papakura and were just around the corner when they received calls about this incident about 3.45pm.
The woman and the twins were taken to hospital and treated for smoke inhalation.
