Man dies in city house fire

By ANNE-MARIE EMERSON and SIMON WOOD
A MAN is dead after a house fire in Wanganui East in the early hours of yesterday morning. Emergency services were called to the Talbot St address just after 4am, to find a sleep-out next to the house well ablaze.
The fire service brought the fire under control quickly but the man, who was in his 30s, died at the scene.
Acting sergeant Nick Brunger, of Wanganui police, said no one else was being sought in relation to the incident.
"At this stage [the fire] is not deemed to be suspicious."
The sleep-out was not fitted with smoke detectors, but Mr Brunger said even if they had they would not have prevented the man's death.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Senior station officer Ken Malcolm, of the Wanganui fire service, was one of the first on the scene and said he was not sure if the man was still alive when firefighters pulled him from the building.
"We did get him outside, and we tried CPR and used a defibrillator, and when the ambulance arrived they tried one or two things too."
Mr Malcolm was unsure who raised the alarm but said a neighbour had attempted to save the man.
The man entered the building three times, but was confronted with thick smoke each time.
"It took him three gos and he would have had a hard time finding the man because of the smoke," Mr Malcolm said.
A cyclist biking to work also raised the alarm when she noticed the fire.
The fire, which was burning for between 30 minutes and an hour, was contained quickly after firefighters arrived.
"It was only a small sleep-out, but it was burning fairly well. It was coming through the window," Mr Malcolm said.
"We had the fire out in about three minutes, and it just took one fire hose."
Two engines attended and remained on the scene until dawn, while they waited for the fire safety officer to arrive from Palmerston North.
Mr Malcolm said it was a timely reminder of the value of smoke alarms, especially in sleep-outs.
"It promotes having a smoke alarm in sleep-outs, especially when there's someone living in them, and even more so if there are children inside.
"You should have at least one and preferably two."
The man's body was removed from the scene yesterday morning, but he will not be named until overseas relatives have been informed of his death.
Inquiries are continuing and the incident will be referred to the coroner.