Two suspicious house fires in Northcote, Christchurch overnight

Fire investigators are looking into two suspicious fires in the early morning in Christchurch. Photo / George Heard

A Christchurch house has been the target of a suspicious fire twice in three days as police and fire investigate.

There were two suspicious house fires less than 100m apart on the same street in the Christchurch suburb of Northcote overnight.

The first was called in just before midnight, and the second was reported around 4am, southern Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) shift manager Alex Norris said.

Both houses were well-involved in fire when crews arrived, he said.

Three crews from Redwood, Ilam and Christchurch City attended the first fire and four from the same stations attended the second. Nobody was reported injured.

The two fires in Northcote are being treated as suspicious. Photo / George Heard

Both fires had been flagged as suspicious and a fire investigator would return this morning, Norris said.

It was unclear if the two fires were linked, he added.

It’s the second time in just three days that one of the properties have been at the centre of a suspicious fire investigation.

The house which is undergoing construction work suffered a suspicious fire at about 3.30am on Friday.

A fire investigator at the scene this morning told the Herald: “It’s now a police investigation, so any further information will have to come through them.”

A resident at the neighboring property of the house that was hit twice in three days told the Herald they’re now considering installing security cameras.

“It’s crazy what’s going on... it’s pretty scary,” they said.

“We could smell smoke this morning but didn’t really see what happened.

“The whole neighborhood is a bit worried at the moment.”

This morning, police said they are investigating all of the fires.

“Police received a report of two house fires on Northcote Road, Northcote - one at midnight and another at 4am,” a spokesman said.

“No one is believed to have been in the buildings.

“A scene guard was in place overnight and enquiries to establish the causes will continue today.”

The police spokesman confirmed that one of the houses “was the subject of a fire last week for which enquiries are ongoing”.

A spokesperson for construction company Bates Building, who is working on the house hit by two separate fires, told the Herald: “We are aware of the fire. We are doing repair work on the property, but we have no further comment to make.”