Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ/Marika Khabazi
Two people have been seriously injured in a house fire in Christchurch.
Firefighters were called to a fire in the Christchurch suburb of Aranui on Friday evening.
Fire and Emergency said the house on Bournemouth Crescent was well ablaze when crews arrived.
It said the fire had since been extinguished and all people were accounted for.
Nearby residents posted on social media that they had heard a “huge explosion” and others reported their house shaking as a result.
Bournemouth Street resident, Scott, said he was listening to loud music at home when he felt that his house shook.
He went outside to have a look at what happened, only to discover that a nearby house was on fire.
“There was actually a guy screaming, because he was actually on fire, and he ran out of the house from what I saw, and someone aimed him with a fire extinguisher,
“And you could see the flames from one of the down stair windows as I was walking towards it, starting to leap around inside the house, and from there the fire pretty much took off and crept out a window.
“Thankfully by then there was about half the street out, going what the hell is going on, and they were calling fire brigade and the cops.”
Scott said the house on fire was one of two, two-storey units that are linked.
He said he heard there was a family living in the linked unit, who managed to get out safely.
St John ambulance said two patients in a serious condition were transported to Christchurch Hospital.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
