Rotorua house fire leaves extensive damage, emergency services at scene

A Rotorua home has been gutted by fire this afternoon.

Emergency services were called to the scene on Clinkard Ave, near the Mahoe St walkway, just after 2pm.

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said the house fire was "well-involved" when crews arrived, and they remain at the property.

"We received multiple 111 calls from the area," he said.

Fire crews putting out the blaze. Photo / Samantha Olley

All those who normally live at the address were accounted for and a fire investigator was on the way, the spokesman said.

Ani Te Kiri Kiel lives opposite the house and was among the neighbours gathered on the street.

"I started using the weed eater in the garden and about 10 minutes after a car left that house there was an explosion and I saw it was on fire, so I rang 111," she told the Rotorua Daily Post.

It appeared to start in a corner room, she said.

Te Kiri Kiel has lived on Clinkard Ave for three and a half years and said it was "a lovely area".

There was "a young couple" living in the house, she said.

This wasn't the first house on the street that had been severely damaged by a house fire, since she moved there, and Te Kiri Kiel said "it was quite sad".

Another neighbour, Audrey Chapman, has lived on the street for more than 20 years.

"I looked out and I could see all the smoke coming from the house, then I could hear the fire engines.

"Everything happened just so fast," she said.

When asked about the series of house fires in the street in recent years, Chapman said: "It makes me want to cry.

"I feel sorry for the people I have known who had lived in that house in the past ... It has many memories."

Witnesses were being interviewed by Rotorua police.

In February 2018, a four-bedroom Housing New Zealand home on Clinkard Ave was damaged by fire and had to be demolished.

Investigations found that the blaze was the result of arson and was started on a couch.

Rotorua police later dealt with an offender linked to the fire, through Youth Aid.

Two months ago, fire crews also put out a large blaze in a garage on the street.