KEY POINTS:
A woman and her child escaped through a window after a car was caught fire, setting alight their Palmerston North home early today.
Detective Sergeant Ashley Gurney said the fire was being treated as suspicious and the house was being kept under guard until a scene examination could be completed.
Mr Gurney said the fire started in the car parked on the Featherson Street property spreading to the house.
The woman and child were not injured and were now staying with friends.
Police would like to hear from anyone who was in the area between midnight and 2am this morning.
Meanwhile another mother and her children escaped a fire at their New Plymouth house that was thought to have been deliberately lit on Saturday morning.
A New Plymouth man has been charged with arson following the incident at St Ives Grove which occurred about 4am.
He appeared in New Plymouth District Court on Saturday morning and remanded until this week..
Sergeant Bruce Irvine said the fire was luckily contained to one room.
- NZPA
