Fire destroyed the Ngāruawāhia home on Sunday. Photo / Supplied
A fire has destroyed the home of whānau of Stan Walker's in Ngāruawāhia.
Family members lost virtually everything - including one of their cats - in Sunday's house fire and support is now flooding in to help them.
Walker said the fire had been "so devastating for my whānau" and asked: "If you can, please help."
"Any help is fully appreciated," he wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.
Firefighters were called to the home shortly after 7.30am on Sunday with two fire engines fighting the blaze for about two-and-a-half hours, a Fire and Emergency spokesperson told Stuff.
The fire is believed to have begun when sockets and wires from an old dryer sparked and caught alight in the laundry. The fire then went up to the roof and into the bathroom and kitchen.
Photo / Supplied / Stuff
The family's eldest daughter, Nailah Smith, 24, said the smoke alarm went off and her mother went to check.
“She just went, ‘Oh shit, everyone get out’.”
Smith said the family were lucky the fire started in the laundry as it was the room furthest away from the bedrooms.
Her mother and father, four siblings and four-year-old niece live in the home.
“Everybody is fine! We lost one of our cats, Simba, and our other cat, Bear is currently at the vet. But everybody else got out unharmed, thank god,” Smith said on Facebook on Sunday.
"Just about all of their belongings are destroyed if not heavily damaged by the smoke and cannot be saved."
Photo / Supplied / Stuff
Smith said “Uncle Stan” was whānau and that his brother had called first thing on Sunday morning, which the family were grateful for.
Walker shared a link to a Givealittle page set up by the family.
Smith said, "Even though insurance will help with some costs, we need some help with the immediate needs like clothing, bedding, furniture, vet bills etc."
"My whānau and surviving pets currently have no home and are split between relatives' homes at the moment. Any help at all would be so greatly appreciated x."
She said her sister who is hapū is due on July 1 and had also lost "all the stuff they had prepped for puku baby".
Smith told Stuff the amount of help they have received since the tragic event was “honestly astonishing”.
“My mum has spent her entire life helping people. She would give the clothes off her back to anyone so, when people came out of the woodwork and returned the favour, it just made sense," she said.
More than $14,000 had been donated by Thursday morning.
