A house in Waverley was "pretty much totally destroyed" in a fire yesterday.
Whanganui firefighters were called to the scene on Kohi Rd at 1.12pm, as the Waverley brigade was short-crewed, station officer Bryan Coskerie said.
"It was well involved when the Patea appliance arrived."
It took the Whanganui crew 33 minutes to get there, by which time the house was gutted.
Mr Coskerie said crews would often get called to faraway fires because with a small fire a house could still be saved after 30 minutes, but this one could not.