Marton house damaged after wall behind log burner ignites

Firefighter Bill Down points to the roof cavity where the fire in a Marton house was contained. Photo / Lewis Gardner

A fire in a large old wooden house in Marton on Saturday night had the potential to be major.

"It really was quite a good save," Marton volunteer fire brigade officer in charge Bill Down said.

The fire was caused by heat from a 1980s logburner set into an existing fireplace that ignited the wall behind it.

The timber of the wall was too close to the fireplace. It charred, and eventually ignited.

The couple living in the William St house had gone to bed, but the woman heard the fire and they dialled 111 and raised the alarm at 12.48am on June 14.

They were out of the house, smoke alarms were going and the wall behind the fireplace was well involved when fire trucks arrived, Down said.

Two trucks from Marton and two from Bulls attended, with a total of about 20 firefighters. The Whanganui command unit was dispatched, but turned back as unneeded.

The fire moved from the wall up into the roof cavity, and firefighters ripped bits of wall and ceiling out to train water on the flames. They could not get up onto the roof because it was a cold night and the roof was slippery with ice.

They were at the fire for more than two hours, then had to return to their stations and restock the trucks.

"It was quite a night," Marton Chief Fire Officer Kevin Darling said.

A renovated early 1900s house in Marton caught fire on June 14. Photo / Lewis Gardner

The main living room of the renovated house was badly damaged, by both fire and water. But the couple is comprehensively insured, Down said, and they plan to restore the house.

What probably slowed the fire enough to contain it was the situation in the roof cavity, where there was a former roof and a higher ceiling that helped confine the flames.

Fire started in the wall behind this woodburner, where wood had been heated too many times. Photo / Lewis Gardner

Down remembers a spate of about four fires back in the 1990s, all caused by continual heating of the wood around fireplaces - wood too close to the heat source that chars and eventually starts to burn.

"It just simmers away and then it gives up the ghost," he said.