Tauranga fire: Crews battle house blaze in Gate Pa

Firefighters have returned to a house fire in Gate Pa this morning after flames were seen in the lounge.

Crews were initially called to the house fire on 21st Ave just before 7pm Wednesday.

A family member who was visiting the scene this morning called firefighters again after she saw flames in the lounge.

Crews attended a fire on 21st Avenue, Tauranga after a blaze that was extinguished the previous night flared up again. Photo / Alex Cairns

The woman went inside the burnt-out home and told the Bay of Plenty Times that the entire home was gutted and that she had spotted a flame burning in the living room among the charred remains.

Two fire trucks are now back at the scene.

Light smoke can be seen coming off the roof and a group of bystanders, including children, are watching as crews dampen the flames. Firefighters are dampening the smoking roof and two firefighters inside the house are throwing and shovelling out burnt and charred bits of furniture and other material.

Intense fire

Dwayne Love lives across the road and is also a volunteer firefighter.

He said the fire last night was “intense”.

”I haven’t seen flames that high in a long time.”

He said the fire was fortunately not a risk to any other properties at the time.

Fire and Emergency NZ senior station officer Neil Brown said there was “major structural damage” to the house.

Crews attended a fire on 21st Avenue, Tauranga after a blaze that was extinguished the previous night flared up again. Photo / Alex Cairns

He said a small fire inside the house started when part of the ceiling, which had embers in it, fell.

Brown said it was “always a tragedy” to attend a house fire.

“Someone no longer has a house.”

He said the team was doing an overhaul now - throwing stuff outside the house - to make it safer. He said this was not done last night as it was not structurally safe to do so, and this was usually left for the daytime.

Earlier:

A Fire and Emergency NZ spokeswoman said they received multiple calls about the fire last night and initially responded with three appliances around 6.49pm, but another two fire trucks were called as well as support vehicles.

She said the “entire rear” of the “high single-story” house had been on fire.

No people were injured, she said.

The house fire in Gate Pa on Wednesday night. Photo / Supplied

The last truck left the scene around 10.23pm.

A reporter at the scene this morning said there was tape at the entrance of the property on 21st Ave as well as around the back of the house.

The fire damage was barely visible from the street, however, windows at the back were blown out and blackened.

The front windows were black from smoke damage.

More to come.