Ripi Street blaze on Anzac day

Family loses home in Anzac Day blaze

Owners Ursula Beazley and Alfred Tango, who lived at the Ripi St house with two daughters and six grandchildren, wanted to go to the dawn service in Kaikohe to remember Tango's father, who fought with the 28th Maori Battalion in World War II.

They also wanted to honour his mother, who passed away 15 years ago yesterday.

The whole family had spent the night at his family homestead at Taheke so they could get up early and travel together to the service.

Otherwise they would have all been at home when the fire started.

At 2.30am Beazley was woken by a phone call from her sister, who lives a few doors away on Ripi St.

''She said, 'I think you'd better get up here. No 2 Ripi St is on fire.' When I got there it wasn't a fire, it was an inferno. The whole house was engulfed,'' she said.

Since the couple bought the house in 1997 four generations had passed through and all had left memories.

She was sorry to lose family photos spanning many decades but grateful no one had been hurt, or worse.

''We'll just have to start making new memories,'' Beazley said.

A courier van parked on the property was also destroyed. It had been parked there only because one of her daughters was going to do a courier run this morning.

Another daughter was upset because her bags, tickets and passport were packed ready for a trip to Australia tomorrow. They had also been consumed in the fire.

''But hey, those things can be replaced. Lives can't be.''

A son with Down syndrome was concerned about his bicycle but that had somehow survived almost unscathed.