Stove left on sparked fire callout

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

Food remains on a portable grill hot plate on a stove that had been left on sparked a fire callout to a house at Wainui on Wednesday night.

Fire and Emergency NZ sent crews to the Moana Road address at around 9.50pm after neighbours heard smoke alarms going off inside the home.

“The occupants were away for the evening so we made entry to find out what was going on,” a senior firefighter said.

“Fortunately, the back door had been left unlocked.

“When we got inside we found the portable grill hot plate had heated up, burning off the food remains on it and that generated the smoke which set off the smoke alarms.”

The oven was turned off, the hot plate removed outside and the firefighters ventilated the house.

“It was just a smoke issue. There was no fire started, though the wall behind the stove was getting quite hot,” the senior firefighter said.

“Well done the neighbours for noticing the smoke alarms and ringing 111.”

The fire crews left the property once they had ventilated the house.

“The occupants had not returned by that stage, so we left them a note explaining what had happened and what we had done about it.”