House burns down near Mohaka township

A blaze completely consumed a property near Mohaka in the Wairoa district on Thursday night. Photo / RNZ

A blaze that completely consumed a property near Mohaka in the Wairoa District has been deemed not suspicious.

Two fire trucks from Wairoa Station were called to the house on Mohaka Township Rd at 9.18pm on Thursday evening.

A spokesperson for the family of a woman living in the house said she was away in Auckland when the fire took hold.

Grant Duley, Wairoa volunteer fire chief, said the property had burned nearly to the ground when firefighters arrived.

“They were only there for about an hour, hour and a half, so they must have just dampened down what was left.”

He said the report indicated that the attending firefighters did not consider the fire to be suspicious.

A police spokesperson also confirmed FENZ staff had advised police that the fire was not suspicious.

* An initial version of this article stated that the house involved in the fire was an abandoned house. A woman was living in the house, but was away at the time of the fire, her family say.