Auckland family loses everything after Lynfield house fire

Thursday, 14 February 2019

Sacha Catford and her sons, Kayarn, 6 (centre), and Kaleb, 11, have only been left with the clothes on their backs after a destroyed their Lynfield home.

When Sacha Catford heard a bang from her garage she did not realise her family's life would change in a matter of seconds.

Catford was helping her sons Kayarn, 6, and Kaleb, 11, pitch a tent in the backyard of their Lynfield home when a fire broke out in the garage.

Standing on Commodore Drive on February 8, the Catfords watched their rental home of 10 months go up in flames.

'It felt like a million years, but it was only seven minutes before the firefighters arrived.'

Five fire trucks and around 20 firefighters helped tackle the February 8 blaze at her Lynfield home.

The fire quickly consumed the family's car, the deck and then the house.

Catford, Kayarn and Kaleb were left with the clothes on their backs, a trampoline and a swimming pool by the time the fire was out.

Sacha Catford said the images of her burnt Lynfield property would not leave her head.

Kayarn and Kaleb lost their tank of tropical fish and were left traumatised by the fire.

'I'm really sad but I'm just trying to be strong for you,' Kaleb told his mum.

The family of three were meant to be spending quality time together on Friday, Catford said, but the fire had turned everything into their third week of hell.

Catford's dad had been critically injured in a two-car crash in Schnapper Rock in January and remains in hospital.

'It's been a really rough ride for my family,' she said.

The fire, which started in the garage, produced loud bangs from exploding petrol in the lawn mower, a gas stove, and a motorbike, which had been a Christmas present for one of her boys.

But Catford said although the family was struggling, the support they had received from the Lynfield community was 'amazing'.

The boys' schools, Edendale Primary School and Kowhai Intermediate School, had donated a uniform and two weeks worth of lunch orders, while neighbours had dropped off clothes and even a Chromebook computer.

Catford and her sons were staying with a friend in New Windsor and had been 'blown away' by their support. Her two flatmates, one of whom was pregnant and due in two weeks, were also staying with friends.

Two Givealittle pages have been set up to help the family rebuild, one by Kaleb's rugby coach, Jamie Freeman, and the other by Ursula Valeli, who was passing by the next day and saw the family sitting on the property with their heads in their hands.

Together, both pages have so far raised more than $5000.

'We're extremely grateful and the support we have received has restored our faith in humanity.'

Although their house had five working smoke alarms, Catford's advice to other renters was to have contents insurance.

'You never think something like that would happen to you.'

Catford said the cause of the fire was believed to be an electrical fault.