A fluke of timing, Mother Nature and the random positioning of a makeup mirror is the reason why a Tauranga family has lost their home, pets and possessions to a devastating house fire.

Merivale mum Jemma (name changed for privacy) was out on a bus trip on Tuesday with her mum and her two daughters, aged five and seven, when she received a startling phone call.

The call was to notify her that their house had caught alight.

'We were on our way home about 1pm and got a call from the fire department to say our house was on fire with what he said was quite an involved fire,” says Jemma.

The bedroom where the fire started. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

When she arrived home, the fire was 'pretty much” out, with two fire trucks at the scene, one from Greerton and the other from Tauranga.

'The fire brigade said the fire would have been smouldering for about an hoour.

'I had a video gaming set up in my room with a lazy-boy, TV and playstation. There was a little table next to it, and the magnifying mirror was sitting on the table."

The remains of the magnifying makeup mirror. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

'The sunlight just came through the window, reflected off the mirror and was just strong enough to set the lazy-boy on fire.”

Jemma says the fire went through the floor and also through the ceiling, filling the house with thick toxic smoke.

'It was a very old lazy-boy with old fabric on it and I think it was just perfect for catching on fire.

The ceiling of the bedroom where the fire started. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

'When we arrived, all the firefighters had come out and I believe were doing the last heat checks. The fire investigator came, went inside and had a look.

'They couldn't figure it out at first. They said 'so you had a lazy-boy. Was there anything on it that could catch fire?” I said that it was just washing. It was just a chair with washing on it.

'And then they found the mirror nearby. The fire investigator said it would have been that.”

The kitchen received smoke damage. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

Sadly, two of the family's three cats died from the fire.

'One of them was asleep on my bed by the look of it, and he just died from smoke inhalation and didn't wake up. He wasn't burnt at all. Eyes closed.

'And then the other cat, it looks like she tried to get out.”

Jemma found the second cat the following morning.

'We hadn't seen her anywhere. We found her in the laundry, in a place we hadn't looked. She must have just succumbed to the smoke.”

The two pets had been part of the family for 11 years. The third cat survived, as he was outside at the time of the fire.

'So we still have one cat left.”

The kitchen received smoke damage. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

She told her children the next day what had happened to their home, after first going shopping to buy them some things to hold to replace their loved items lost in the fire.

'We bought stuff that would be special things for them. So that they had something for when we told them about losing their belongings.”

A funeral for the cats was held on Sunday.

'I think it was helpful for the girls and their grieving process. We won't take the girls inside. We brought them around to bury the cats so that they can be a part of that, but we're not going to show them inside.

'And we've told them that all of their belongings are gone.”

A child's bedroom received smoke damage. Everything including all books, furniture, toys and bedding has to be discarded. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

Some of the items include a giraffe made by Jemma.

'My oldest daughter – there are two things she is most devastated about – for her first birthday I crocheted her a giraffe that was about a foot and a half tall. She called it Giraffe and she slept with it every night.

"My room is the only one that's been destroyed by fire. But the rest of the house is black with smoke damage. So everything in her room has soot all over it, and it has so many chemicals which means we can't give her giraffe back to her.”

A special and loved crotcheted toy giraffe hasn't been burned but has received smoke damage and has to be discarded. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

She no longer has the original yarn used to create the giraffe but is hoping that someone can help her make African flowers so she can crotchet them together to make a new giraffe.

'I was going to buy some more to make another one, but I was considering asking if people wanted to help me to do it. It took a long time make the first one.

'I was in the process of making my other daughter an elephant and that's gone as well [in the fire].”

She would love it if people were able to help her make the flowers, so she could make a new giraffe and elephant.

'The girls are going to tell me what colours they want. It's the same concept with crotcheted African flowers. And sewn together to make it look like an elephant.”

All books, furniture, toys and games have to be discarded due to smoke damaged. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

In Jemma's bedroom was her mother's glory box.

'It's hand-carved by my great-great-grandfather on my mum's side.”

She says although it was undamaged by the fire itself, the wood would have absorbed the smoke.

'And there's also a doll's cot that is an heirloom that my great-grandfather on my dad's side made for my auntie. And then I had it, and I got it to give to the girls. It was destroyed by the fire.

'Even though some of it looks alright – the smoke – it's just toxic.”

Walking through the house with masks on, the smell left by the smoke is overpowering.

The fire in the bedroom went up into the ceiling of the house. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

Unfortunately, the family will no longer be able to live in the house.

'The insurance people said it will be some time before we can live on the property again.

'The fire brigade said it was a cut/dry type of situation that was completely accidental. There's nothing you can do about it.”

On the day of the fire, it wasn't a bright sunny day, but overcast with clouds.

'They said everything had to be in the ‘right' place at that exact time. He said if it was the next day it wouldn't have happened because the sun would have been in a different place in the sky.”

The smoke caused a marked line to appear along where all the washing was drying in the next room. Everything has to be discarded. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

The family are in search of a rental where the girls can feel safe and secure again.

Jemma's mum is looking for a home with them because she was living in a sleep-out at the back of the property, but relied on the main house for power, bathroom, a shower and laundry facilities.

Preferably they want to be able to take their cat that survived, but have been offered a home for him if needed.

Jemma says a quote by Fred Rogers has struck a chord with her through this traumatic event: 'When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping'.”

'We have been blown away by support from family, friends and our community,” says Jemma who has a clear safety message she'd like to pass on to people.

'Make sure you have lots of smoke alarms. Every bedroom needs to have a smoke alarm. There's alarms you can have that detect heat as well, not just smoke. For example our garage is quite dusty so they said you could put a heat detecting one in the garage.

'And just be mindful of things that can cause fires.

'A magnifying mirror, or anything like that – such as a drink bottle – don't leave them on your windowsills or in the sunlight. If you've got a makeup mirror put it in a cupboard, don't leave it out.”

A couple of years ago she made a fire plan with her daughters.

'So that if there was a fire, they knew how to get out of the house. And we re-enacted it. I put the fire alarm on and they crawl down the hallway.”

Jemma says that over the years she has collected a lot of things and has 'wanted to condense stuff down” but never imagined it would be through a devastating fire.

'Not quite this way.”

Jemma is grateful for the support they have received since the fire.

'We have been given so much support so far. At the moment we are focusing on getting a house as we don't really have anywhere to store stuff at the moment.”