Hemi Wharerimu (6, front) with his sister Kowhai (4), parents Emily and Nathan Wharerimu revisit the heater which burst into flames in Hemi's room at the weekend. Photo by Craig Baxter.
A Dunedin boy has been credited with saving his family from a potentially lethal house fire by alerting them to a burning heater in his bedroom early on Saturday.Nathan Wharerimu was surprised to be woken by his son Hemi about 2am, shouting about a fire in his bedroom.
Hemi had woken to find his bedroom heater on fire, so he went to the bedroom next door to get his sister, before heading downstairs to raise the alarm to his parents.
Mr Wharerimu said he grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran up the stairs of his Ryehill St house to his son's room where he found an oil fin heater well alight and the room quickly filling with smoke. He put out the fire, but rang the Fire Brigade as a precaution.
''I don't know why Hemi woke up. The fire alarm batteries had gone flat. This was a good lesson for us.
''We're kicking ourselves for not checking. It could have been done quite easily.
''Cleaning up yesterday, it really brought it home that we could have been organising a funeral today.''
He was thankful for his son's actions, and that his family was celebrating a birthday yesterday rather than a fatality.
''Hemi's a hero - he got some treats the next day, that's for sure,'' his relieved father said.
East Otago Fire Risk Management officer Barry Gibson praised Hemi's actions, but stopped short of calling him a hero.
''What he did was the correct thing to do - to get help and then get out safely.''
Mr Gibson said when children found fire, it was common for them to shut the door and ignore the problem.
He said fire safety officers had spent a lot of time educating children about fire safety and what to do in the event of a fire. He believed the Wharerimu family had benefited from that education.
''Teaching them what to do is always going to be helpful at times like this.''
Thirty-one special smoke alarms for deaf children were handed over to the Otago Association for Deaf Children last Friday night. The $500 wireless alarms set off flashing lights and a vibration under the pillow of a sleeping child.
About $12,500 for the alarms was raised by the Green Island and Balmacewen Lions Clubs, Special Rigs for Special Kids, and donated by the Lloyd Morgan Lions Club Charitable Trust. Alan Hughes from the Otago Association for Deaf Children said the portable alarms offered deaf children, especially teenagers, some independence and security.
-john.lewis@odt.co.nz
Source: http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/262178/child-fire-safety-education-pays
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