Fire began in bedroom walls

A fire that claimed a historic Blenheim home was started by an electrical fault but the exact cause is unknown.

No-one was home when the house was destroyed by fire in late June but the family lost six generations of Marlborough history in 15 minutes.

Bec Wiffen, who lived in the house with her husband, two children and two au pairs said the home was too badly burned to determine a cause.

‘‘It was basically an electrical fault, but what kind of fault, they’ve got no idea,’’ Wiffen said.

‘‘They know where it started, it pretty much started in one of the walls . . . the wall between the kids’ rooms. But other than that, no real diagnosis.’’

Fire risk management officer Greg Mclean confirmed that the specific cause of the fire could not be determined.

‘‘The general area where the fire started was deemed to be very close to the wall between the children’s bedrooms,’’ Mclean said.

‘‘However, due to the severity of the fire damage at this location no ignition source or specific point of origin could be identified.’’

He said it was not common for house fires to begin within walls – they more commonly began in the kitchen.

Wiffen said she was not frustrated by the lack of diagnosis, and was just grateful no-one was home at the time of the blaze.

The home was visited by looters in the week following the fire – including a couple Wiffen caught red-handed – but she said there had been no more reports of theft.

‘‘We haven’t seen anyone doing anything else and all of the gates are padlocked now.’’

While there was nothing structural left to save of the house, the garage remained and firefighters were able to salvage Wiffen and her husband’s wedding rings.

Wiffen’s children Sophia, 5, and Sam, 3, were the sixth generation to live in the house on New Renwick Rd, built in the 1880s.

The family planned to rebuild after going through the insurance and design process, likely in the new year, Wiffen said.

She would like to thank the Marlborough community for all their support and donations, which have continued to arrive since the fire.

‘‘Everyone is like, can we bring you this, can I give you that, have you got one of these?’’

‘‘The generosity of people is just incredible, we’ve been very fortunate.’’

Mclean said there were general tips for families to protect their households against fire risk.

They included keeping flammable materials at least a metre from the heater, keeping chimneys swept and avoiding sleeping with electric blankets.

It was also safest to put hot ashes in a metal bucket to cool, as they could stay hot for up to five days.