One dead after house fire in Hunterville
One person has died following an earlymorning house fire in the lower North Island community of Hunterville.
Fire services were called to a blaze at a house on Ongo Rd about 5.45am yesterday.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said the fire was fatal and four fire engines attended to extinguish the blaze.
It is understood the victim was an elderly woman.
A fire investigator attended and police were also at the scene investigating yesterday morning. Fire investigators referred Stuff to police for comment.
A police spokeswoman confirmed someone had died and said officers were not treating the fire as suspicious.
The house was still standing but the rear of the single-storey building had been destroyed.
The flames had gutted at least two rooms and the interior was blackened and charred. Parts of the roof had fallen in.
One neighbour, who did not want to be identified, said he went outside to see flames almost as high as the power lines.
‘‘It was ripping.’’
Other neighbours heard the town’s fire alarm, but did not notice what had happened until later in the morning when the fire had been extinguished and emergency services were at the scene.
It was the second house fire in the small Rangitı¯kei town inside a week, after a house on Milne St was destroyed by fire on Thursday, forcing a temporary closure of State Highway 1.
The two-storey house was gutted by the fire, with large parts of the interior blackened and a small structure at the back of the house collapsed.
A woman at the property declined to comment to Stuff yesterday.