Occupants wake up to house full of smoke

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A loud bang on Tuesday night woke residents at a house in Roebuck Road  and they got up to find their home filled with smoke and a fire starting.

Fire and Emergency NZ sent two crews to the property, between Williams and Root streets at around 9.30pm.

“When we arrived we found a fire burning inside a wall in a bedroom,” a senior firefighter said.

“It had also got into the kitchen and up into the roof space.”

The fire crews were told the three people living in the place, and another person in an adjoining flat, were woken by a loud bang.

“They got up to find the home ‘smoke logged’ and evacuated the place.

“They all got out of the house OK. They were fine,” the senior firefighter said.

The firefighters were able to contain the fire to the bedroom, kitchen and roof void above those areas.

“Fire damage was contained to those areas.”

There was some smoke damage elsewhere in the home.

“It was a good save,” he said.

“It was just as well the residents got woken up though, otherwise the outcome could have been totally different for them.”

■ Just a few minutes after the house fire call came in FENZ were called about a car on fire on a property in Chalmers Road.

The Manutuke volunteers were mobilised and they attended to it.

“The vehicle was fully involved when they got there and it was burnt out,” the senior firefighter said.

“It burned close to a house and a fence, and those structures sustained some scorching.”

The Herald understands police took a man into custody later in relation to the incident.