A fire in a south Auckland house that killed four children and left three people seriously injured was started by an unattended chip pan on a stove, fire safety officers believe.
The bodies of the children, aged 15, 11, nine and two, were found in the Mangere house after the fire broke out early on Tuesday.
Two adults from the same family, believed to be Misi and Fetu Sau, are in hospital with severe burns, while a 19-year-old man is in intensive care. A fourth person taken to hospital on Tuesday morning was later discharged.
They were all reported to be in a stable condition at Middlemore Hospital on Tuesday night. Two of them had surgery during the day.
Manukau fire chief Larry Cocker said fire officers had uncovered the cause of the blaze.
"We believe chips were being cooked with oil which was left on and then ignited. Unattended cooking is just not on and if you've got something on the stove you must stay there and watch it," Mr Cocker said.
He added there was no evidence of smoke alarms in the house.
"Smoke alarms probably would have averted this tragedy and again we're just re-emphasising the speed of fire. People have no conception about the amount of flammables in an ordinary house and the speed they can ignite and make the house untenable for the occupants.
Both parents were badly burned as they tried to save the children, the father's 11-year-old and nine-year-old from an earlier marriage and a 15-year-old and a two-year-old from his second marriage. The elder children were understood to be girls and the toddler a boy.
Two others in a sleepout at the back of the house were unhurt.
Two teenagers, Dallas Pakeho and Gardenia Latham, saw the burning house when they were driving past Nicola Place early Tuesday and sprinted barefoot to the house.
Our friends grabbed a bat out of the car, smashed the windows and then my friend over there pulled out a lady," said Ms Pakeho.
They assisted Mr and Mrs Sau from the home.
Aveloa Sauvao, 66, fought with his emotions as he stood 30 metres from the house where his nieces and nephews perished.
"Four kids died in there," he said after being at the hospital with the parents all night.
He said the parents were faced with the fire when they came out of their room.
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