“It is a shame that some criminal would want to do this and in the height of summer.
“It’s complete madness since that part of the property is covered in trees with houses nearby.”
It’s the second house on the property to burn down.
A number of years ago a second house was built, which was later subject to an electrical fire and burnt down.
The house owner’s son said the property has been subject to a lot of other criminality as well, including theft and vandalism.
He said some expensive items had been stolen from the property including garden equipment, an expensive truck, and a large wood burner which he said would take at least four people to lift.
He also said his mother, who owns the property, had been getting increasingly stressed with all the crime occurring there.
The house owner’s son said there is a serious problem with crime in New Zealand and thought it was quite bad in Kāpiti.
“Thanks to the poor volunteer firefighters who I’m sure have better things to do with their Friday night.”
Paraparaumu Fire Brigade’s Neil Olsen said they were called about trees on fire, but when they arrived they found the vacant house aflame.
They could see the smoke from quite a distance, and he said the house was in the middle of the bush.
Since no one was inside, their first concern was preventing the fire from spreading to neighbouring properties.
“It was an external attack - we put the fire out from the outside to prevent risk to ourselves.”
Olsen said members from fire brigades in Waikanae and Porirua came to help too.
