Arson probe after Eketahuna blaze

DESTROYED: Fire Chief Max Mayer at the site of a fire in the town yesterday that left a shed gutted and a load of timber and household furniture destroyed. PHOTO/NATHAN CROMBIE

Firefighters successfully battled a raging shed fire in Eketahuna and kept the blaze from spreading to several nearby buildings.

Eketahuna Fire Chief Max Mayer said a crew each from Eketahuna and Pahiatua were scrambled to the fire, which broke out at a Stanley St home in Eketahuna about 10.30am yesterday.

Eketahuna police officer Senior Constable Hamish Adie and a fire investigator were to examine the scene and determine the cause of the blaze, he said yesterday, to rule out arson.

"It's suspicious until we can prove otherwise and there was one resident at home, who wasn't injured. It was fortunate the shed next door and the house didn't catch as well."

Firefighters had battled for two hours to contain and douse the blaze, which destroyed a load of timber and stored furniture after erupting in a stucco shed closely flanked on three sides by buildings.

The homeowner was asleep when the fire broke out, Mr Mayer said, and he had fled the blaze unharmed despite radiant heat blowing out a window and melting plastic corrugated sheeting at the rear of the house.

Two vehicles parked nearby had also escaped heat damage from the fire, he said, and neighbours had successfully moved their vehicles to safety before the blaze took hold.

Mr Mayer said there had been a stack of milled macrocarpa timber largely destroyed in the fire along with household items and furniture that was also stored in the building.

"It was more a storage shed than anything else but there was quite a bit of household goods in there and the timber was newly milled," he said.

"The stucco walls on the garage saved the house I think. If it had been just timber, we would have had a burning home on our hands as well. Definitely."