Haylee Carson didn’t think twice when she saw smoke billowing from her elderly neighbour’s house in Christchurch.
She raced next door and found flames coming through the kitchen window, so she alerted the woman inside.
But in her dash to help, Carson kept one very precious thing tucked under her arms - her 1-year-old.
"It was pretty crazy. The fire got big really fast.
"I knocked on her door and she answered it. And I said: ‘Your house is on fire’.
"She ran straight to the kitchen and I heard her scream."
"I wasn’t even really able to think well, or think to put the baby down. I just went over there having a sort of panicked reaction," she said.
Carson ran around the house to the deck to try and encourage the woman to leave.
"I think she grabbed the hot pot of oil in the kitchen and might have been too freaked out or something because she dropped it all over herself."
The elderly woman received burns to her feet, arms, hands and face and was still in hospital on Tuesday after a skin graft surgery.
The occupant managed to escape out the back door, but Carson still had to help her get to safety.
"I had to basically pull her away from the house and she had got the garden hose on to try put the fire out, but she almost walked into it (the fire). She was in shock."
Firefighters arrived just after 3pm, about 10min after being notified, on Monday.
They managed to extinguish the blaze, saving part of the home.
An ambulance arrived and treated the elderly woman’s injuries at the scene before transporting her to hospital.
"It’s her family home. Her husband died there, kids grew up there. She’s lost quite a lot of stuff," said Carson.
She felt like her own house could have been at risk until the firefighters arrived.
"All credit to the firefighters, they did a top job."
Police closed roads near the scene as fire crews put out the flames. They left the scene about 5.15pm.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesperson said the cause of the fire was still being determined.
“I was just hanging out my washing and came outside seeing smoke. I was really terrified,” she said.
Tam dashed to grab her baby and the family's passports as she believed her home could also catch fire.
"I had to grab all the important things and it was just an unforgettable experience. I’ve never seen fire like that except on TV," she said.
"I then went out again and saw the firefighters splashing water inside and started feeling a lot better."
Tam waited on the street while the blaze was put out.
She only moved from Queenstown into the home two months ago after immigrating from the Philippines in 2023.
"It’s definitely not what you think will happen after moving in," she said.
