Passer-by helps to douse fire

A passer-by saved an elderly man's life and home after it caught fire. Photo / George Novak

A passer-by helped saved the life and home of an elderly man whose house caught fire.

Tauranga fire brigade were called to a home on Welcome Bay Rd about 10am yesterday to help put out the fire, which had started in the sunroom.

Tauranga Senior Station Officer Len Sabin said a passer-by had noticed smoke coming from the house and extinguished the small fire with a garden hose, after calling the fire brigade and alerting the elderly man inside.

The occupant of the home did not know the fire had started until he was alerted to it by the passer-by. He then helped put the fire out. "Here we had a small fire with the potential to spread through the rest of the house. The passer-by did an excellent job of stopping the fire before it spread. He has potentially saved a lot of damage, so he absolutely needs to be commended. It had all the potential to be quite devastating."

Mr Sabin said the elderly man had been on the other side of the house when the fire started.

"A few more minutes and the house would have been going. The damage has been limited to the sunroom."

At this stage, it appeared the fire had started from the "incorrect disposal" of fire ashes, Mr Sabin said. "It appears the elderly gentleman emptied out his fireplace [yesterday] morning into a combustible container.

"We recommend people be extremely vigilant and careful with the disposal of ashes. We go to incidents every winter where people either use combustible containers or relocate those embers near combustibles."

Inappropriate disposal of ashes has been blamed for several fires around Tauranga this winter, including another house on fire in Welcome Bay after ashes were placed in a plastic bucket next to an outside wall.

The fire service recommended leaving ashes in a metal bucket for five days before disposing of them.