'It was heart-wrenching': Neighbour recalls desperate escape from burning home

Tuesday, 28 July 2026

A Dinsdale resident woke to “heart wrenching” scenes as residents across the street fled their burning home on Tuesday, leaving one person critically injured.

Daphne Walters was jolted awake by desperate cries coming from the Karen Cres property shortly before 6am on Tuesday.

'It felt like somebody had passed away, that's how I felt anyway,“ she told the Waikato Times. ”It was real heart-wrenching.“

Standing outside, Walters watched as firefighters hosed one of the victims down.

'The screams were blood-curdling.'

The ordeal was so distressing Walters could not bear to keep watching.

'It was just so bad. I felt so sorry for the family.'

Another neighbour rushed outside after seeing flames engulf the house and tried to help the injured occupants. But when he grabbed a garden hose to cool their burns, it was frozen solid after the coldest night of the year.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand shift manager Paul Radden said crews were called to the Karen Cres address at 5.54am after multiple reports of a house fire.

'When crews arrived, the building was well ablaze,' he said.

Two crews from Hamilton and one from Te Rapa responded to the single-storey house fire.

Hamilton Senior Station Officer Colin Klenner said the blaze appeared to have 'developed pretty quickly' and was believed to have started in one of the bedrooms.

'We've had two people go to hospital to be treated with burns and smoke inhalation.'

He said one victim was in their late teens or early 20s, while the other was in their late 20s.

A Hato Hone St John spokesperson said both occupants were taken to Waikato Hospital. One was in a critical condition and the other in a moderate condition.

The fire was later extinguished, with investigators remaining at the scene on Tuesday to determine what sparked the blaze.