A 39-year-old man has been charged after a mother trapped inside a burning Upper Riccarton home said she was forced to throw her young daughter over broken glass and flames to escape.

Eight people, including a pregnant woman, and a dog were inside the Riccarton Road property when the fire broke out early morning on Friday 17 July.

All escaped safely.

Fire and Emergency shift manager Lynn Crossan previously told Chris Lynch Media crews were called to the blaze at 5.55am.

Firefighters from Ilam and Wigram attended, with the first crew finding the house well ablaze.

The fire was extinguished by 6.15am.

The mother, who Chris Lynch Media agreed not to name, said the fire spread from the front door into the lounge in less than a minute, trapping her and her young daughter in a room near the entrance.

“I had to get her out through the same front door that the Molotov was chucked into because there was less fire in that exit,” she said.

The woman said her screams woke the rest of the household, who escaped through the back door.

Her oldest son helped his pregnant partner escape from the upper level of the house.

“I picked up my daughter and threw her over the broken glass and flames outside the front door,” the mother said.

She said she knew opening the door would feed oxygen to the fire, but believed there was no other way for them to escape.

Another occupant attempted to fight the blaze while the family fled, but the woman said the flames reached the second storey within about two minutes.

A 39-year-old man is due to reappear in the Christchurch District Court on 11 August.

A police spokesperson told Chris Lynch Media that the man is charged with “wilful damage to property by explosive, intentional damage, possession of a cannabis plant, possession of a utensil for cannabis, possession of methamphetamine, and failing to carry out obligations in relation to a computer search”.