Old wooden house collapses in fire

No one was home as firefighters put out the blaze at Birkenhead. Picture / Alex Shea

A fire quickly spread and gutted a private home in Birkenhead, Auckland, on Saturday morning, sending black smoke into the sky that could be seen 10km away in Browns Bay.

"It was hard to tell exactly where the fire was because the whole valley was full of thick black smoke," said Birkenhead fire station officer Grant Mitcheson.

The house was empty at the time.

The Fire Service is still investigating the cause of the fire.

Mr Mitcheson said the fire was so intense the back part of the house partially collapsed and firefighters had to attack the blaze from outside the building due to the danger of further collapse.

Fire units from as far as Ponsonby were called to the blaze in Inkster St about 10.40am and prevented it from spreading to nearby houses, trees and bushes.

Mr Mitcheson said there was no sign the house was fitted with smoke alarms.

Firefighters had to work quickly because the flames spread rapidly through the old, wooden building, he said.

"There wasn't much to stop it at all. It went up pretty quickly."