Post mortem today after fatal Waikato fire

One man is dead after a fatal fire at a house on School Rd in Netherton this morning. Photo / Christine Cornege.

A fire in a rural Waikato farmhouse which is believed to have claimed a man's life in the early hours of this morning is being treated by police as suspicious as they await the results of a post-mortem examination.

Firefighters were called the fire in Netherton, northwest of Paeroa, at around 5am today and found the building "engulfed in flames", northern fire communications shift manager Scott Osmond said.

Volunteer fireman Lindsay Hill was not one of the first on the scene, but he said it was still going "full ball" when he got there.

"It's a pretty old farm house, been there for a fair while, so everything's pretty old and dry and what have you."

Police removed the body of what is believed to be a man from the house at 2pm today.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Whitehead said at this point both the man's death and the fire were being treated as suspicious.

Investigations would be guided to a significant degree by the post mortem examination, due to be carried out in Auckland tomorrow, he said.

There was nothing to corroborate earlier media reports that there may have been another person at the property at the time of the blaze.

However, he asked anyone with information to the contrary to contact the investigation team.

"Police would like to thank the local community for their support of the inquiry team, in particular those members of the several volunteer fire brigades who attended the initial blaze shortly before 5am and remained for several hours dampening down and those who returned to dampen down further hotspots around noon."

Anyone with any information on the fire is asked to phone Detective Sergeant Glenn Tinsley on 07 863 8179 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.