'These things don't light themselves'

INVESTIGATION: Fire investigator Craig Bain begins his inspection of the remains of the house at Takahue.

Fire investigator Craig Bain was still working yesterday to determine the cause of a fire that destroyed a small house at Takahue on Wednesday night, but had little doubt that it was suspicious.

"It wasn't connected to the power, so that takes out a lot of potential causes, and these things don't catch fire by themselves," he said.

The Cemetery Road house, whose tenant was not at home when the Kaitaia Fire Brigade arrived, was gutted, the crews having no chance of saving anything of value.

"It was well away when we got there," station officer Ross Beddows said.

Three appliances had been dispatched; the brigade's water carrier was off the road, acquiring a certificate of fitness, but sufficient water was found in a nearby dam to extinguish the blaze.

"It didn't smell too good - it really stank when we got back to the station and cleaned the tanks out - but it did the job," he added.

The crews had been at the scene for about an hour and a half, while police left a scene guard there overnight. Two members of the Kaitaia CIB were there on Thursday to conduct a minute examination of the remains of the house and its surrounds.

The brigade was called out again at 2.45am on Thursday, to an address in Parkdale Crescent Kaitaia. Again the building, a shed at the rear of the property, was involved beyond saving by the time the first appliance arrived, within minutes of the alarm being raised, the initial fear being that the flames would spread to the house.

"Spouting had melted and the steps up to a deck had burned," Mr Beddows said.

"Another minute I'd say, two at the most, and flames would have got into the ceiling, so we concentrated on preventing that before we dealt with the shed."

The building was totally destroyed, along with contents including a golf cart, a couple of quad bikes, a boat, two brand new outboard motors, six chainsaws, a lawn mower, a compressor and tools. The intense heat scorched the front of a car parked nearby, and partially melted the rear guards of another quad bike on a trailer in the driveway.

Fire risk management officer Michael Champtaloup said the likely cause of the fire was a 44-gallon drum incinerator that was hard up against one wall. A family member had used the incinerator then extinguished it with a hose, the flames presumably re-igniting while no one was at home.

Neighbours had turned out to help the firefighters, Mr Beddows added, some being shocked by how quickly the building was engulfed.

An open window had provided entry to the house so a thermal camera could be used to check the ceiling, while the resident dog came in for special praise.

"It was a very well behaved dog," Mr Beddows said. "It didn't even bark, let alone try to bite anyone."