A Dannevirke family watched helplessly as their 2022 ute burned after four masked men threw a “firebomb” into the vehicle.

Annette Lilo and her family live on Tennyson St in the Tararua town. About 3am on Sunday they heard their 2022 Ford Ranger’s alarm. The was parked on the street outside their home.

Lilo’s daughter Ashanti Lilo-Broadbelt was awake in the lounge and after the alarm stopped, put the security light on and went to bed.

Annette Lilo's 2022 Ford Ranger was set on fire by what she described as a fire bomb thrown by masked men in Dannevirke. Photo / Annette Lilo

Lilo said at 3.45am, Ashanti heard a car on the street. On edge after the earlier alarm, she got up to investigate.

Lilo said Ashanti told her she saw the lights of a brown Toyota Camry sedan coming down the street.

“She saw the car pull up next to my ute and saw four men in the car. They all had masks on and one was sitting out the back window.

“She saw them throw something really big at my ute, heard a bang and then saw orange light inside the ute.”

Lilo was woken by the fire and ran to the other side of the street, where she could see a smashed back passenger window of the ute.

She was horrified when she realised her vehicle was on fire.

“I could see it was a firebomb.

“I was like, ‘oh my god, I’m watching my ute burn’. We watched our $100,000 ute go up in flames.”

Lilo said the Ranger’s back tyres exploded and the only thing not completely destroyed was the motor.

“The whole ute is disintegrated, there is not even a dashboard left on the inside, it burnt down to the bare metal.”

Lilo, who has lived in Dannevirke all her life and works with local iwi, felt the fire was random, rather than a targeted attack.

An angry Lilo said it was a real ‘‘knockback”.

Police are investigating.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings and Central Hawke’s Bay newsrooms. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities.