Police are placing an overnight scene guard at a property where fire gutted a home beside the railway tracks between Te Awa Ave and State Highway 51 near Awatoto tonight.
The fire, in a house at the rear of a Te Awa Ave section opposite Maraenui Golf Course and facing the railway line and the ocean, was alight when the first crews from Fire and Emergency New Zealand arrived after the alarm was raised at 6.01pm.
Flames were leaping from the railway track and heavy smoke billowed from the house and could be seen from across Napier as firefighters fought initially to protect bneighbouring houses, one barely 1.5 metres from the burning home.
The smoke enshrouded Te Awa Ave and the golf course, and also billowed at times across the SH51 (formerly SH2), where some motorists had stopped to watch the fire crews at work.
No injuries were reported but police had Te Awa Ave still closed between the intersections with Kenny and Awatoto roads as firefighters continued trying to extinguisher the fire from within an hour-and-a-half after the alarm was raised.
