Person arrested after Christchurch house fire; a second blaze is being investigated

Fire units were called to the house fire in Hillmorton, Christchurch. Photo / Nathan Morton

A heavy emergency service turnout was prompted on Thursday morning after two Christchurch properties caught fire at roughly the same time.

The two properties, one in the southwestern suburb of Hillmorton and the other in rural Burnham, were both “well-involved”, with multiple fire units attending.

Police have confirmed a teenage woman has been arrested in connection to the Hillmorton fire on Bidwell Pl, charged with wilfully setting fire to property.

Fire investigators are on their way to the second blaze on Burnham’s Telegraph Rd to determine its cause.

Neighbours of the house on Bidwell Pl reported seeing large plumes of yellow smoke billow from the property shortly after 8.50am.

Bidwell Pl, a no-exit street that borders Canterbury Agricultural Park, is closed off to the public as fire crews clean up. Photo / Nathan Morton

Neighbours said three fire units could be seen tackling the blaze. At one stage they reported seeing firemen on the roof.

Kelvin Mcelroy was gardening at his nearby home when he began to smell smoke coming from elsewhere.

He said within minutes, several police came “screaming down the road”.

“The police were coming one after the other, at first I thought there’d been an incident nearby.”

On his way down the road, he saw large plumes of yellow smoke reaching as high as 6 metres.

“I initially thought it was a scrub fire, you’d think it was coming from the nearby reserve,” he said.

“The firemen were on the roof, I could see two at the time. The smoke would have been terrible for the houses nearby.”

Another neighbour, Chris Botur, said firemen put the blaze out relatively quickly - within 30 minutes of being called out.

“They did quite well to get it under control.”

A resident cycling through the street at the time said he could see a family exiting the property soon after the blaze had started.

Fire and Emergency’s Simon Lyford also confirmed a second house fire was being attended to on Burnham’s Telegraph Rd. Photo / NZME

“The smoke was quite thick and toxic, the whole house was burning away,” he said.

Bidwell Pl, a no-exit street that borders Canterbury Agricultural Park, is closed off to the public as fire crews clean up.

Fire and Emergency’s Simon Lyford said the call came through at 8.50am, where two firetrucks from Spreydon and Wigram responded.

A third from Woolston also responded when it was on its way to the workshop.

A police spokesperson said a person had to be rescued from inside the house, the fire was later determined to be suspicious.

An 18-year-old woman had already been arrested in connection to the incident, charged with wilfully setting fire to property.

On the second fire in Burnham, Lyford said two appliances from Dunsandel and Burnham initially responded at 8.30am.

However, calls for backup trucks were made due to the “rural nature” of the fire, which was in the roof of a residential property on Telegraph Rd.

All crews were still at the site after several hours “to dampen things”.

Police said the house’s occupants escaped the home and were the ones who called for emergency services.

Nobody was injured, police confirmed.

“Both housefires have all crews in attendance, but there’s no risk of either spreading. Both fires are contained,” Lyford said shortly after 10am.

MORE TO COME.