Gas heater may have caused deadly fire

A gas heater is being looked at as the possible cause of a fire in the Lower Hutt suburb of Wainuiomata, which claimed the life of a 70-year-old man.

Emergency services arrived at the Burden Ave house just after 2am yesterday to find it fully ablaze.

The fire destroyed one of the flat units, and caused structural and smoke damage to two adjacent units. When the fire was extinguished fire officers discovered a man's body.

Wainuiomata Chief Fire Officer Ewen Heron said the man lived alone.

The other occupants in the six-flat complex were evacuated, and will remain elsewhere until the police investigation into the fire is completed later today.

Mr Heron said a gas heater in the man's unit was being looked at as the cause.

"That's a possibility, but there's a range of possibilities. There's nothing concrete, but there was quite a big explosion there for some reason.

"All we can do is wait and see what the investigation team find out."

He said the two adjacent units that sustained damage were not occupied.