Fire has gutted a family home near Taupō, but the occupants managed to escape unharmed because of its working smoke alarms, a firefighter says.
Turangi Fire Brigade station officer Riley Millar said they were notified about a chimney fire at a single-storey wooden house in Kapua St in Tauranga-Taupo district just before 1am today.
Millar said two fire crews and a water tanker from Turangi station and another crew from the Southern Lakes station attended the blaze, but on arrival the house was “well-involved”.
They spent several hours at the property.
“We were able to stop the fire from spreading to neighbouring properties, contained the fire and eventually put it out.