Napier house fire: Crews tackle blaze in Tamatea

Firefighters were called to a well-involved fire in the Napier suburb of Tamatea.

Firefighters have put out a fire that badly damaged a home in the Napier suburb of Tamatea.

They were called to the property on Bowen Place about 1.16pm on Monday and responded with three appliances.

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said the fire was well-involved when they arrived and people were home at the time.

The 15m by 20m fire was extinguished at 2.06pm. The spokesman said they were checking the building on Monday afternoon by “tipping everything over, checking things, pulling down roofs, pulling out walls and making sure that we have extinguished hotspots”.

Nearby resident Peter Fearne said he saw “a lot of smoke” coming out of the building about 1pm and conditions at the time were challenging for firefighters, with strong winds around.

Another Tamatea resident, Junelle Moyes, said the smoke coming from the home was black, and she could tell it was serious due to its colour.

”It smelt like burning plastic, like a car on fire, and it was very strong,” she said.

MORE TO COME.