A 22-year-old man has been charged with wilfully setting fire to property after a blaze which gutted a home in Napier last week.
The fire in a house at the rear of a property off Te Awa Ave, and adjacent of the railway track and facing the ocean about 300 metres north of Awatoto Rd, was reported at 5.40pm on November 2.
Having apparently started in the area of a conservatory on the seaward side of the house the blaze was engulfing the interior and ceiling and was threatening two neighbouring homes when the first Fire and Emergency NZ crew arrived from Napier.
Both neighbouring homes were saved with little to no damage despite the buffeting winds as firefighters battled the blaze.
Police confirmed two days later they were speaking with a "person of interest" and awaiting testing of samples and items gathered in an investigating in which the fire was treated as suspicious from the outset.