‘No reason to believe’ Peninsula fire suspicious

THE cause of a blaze which engulfed a home on a farm on the Otago Peninsula last Friday has yet to be determined, but a fire investigator says there is ‘‘no reason to believe it is suspicious’’.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand fire risk management officer Stuart Ide said despite police and fire crews initially suspecting the fire may have been lit intentionally, investigators now did not believe that was the case.

‘‘Some factors indicated it may have been suspicious at the time, but these have been ruled out.’’

A police officer from the Criminal Investigation Branch was at the Seal Point Rd property the morning of the fire.

However, a police spokeswoman said yesterday ‘‘initial indications suggest it might have been an electrical malfunction’’.

At its peak in the early hours of Friday morning, seven fire crews from around Dunedin battled to contain the blaze.

Noone was at home at the time of the incident, he said.

The fire had been largely extinguished by 8.30am.

The same property was the site of another blaze in September 1993, when a rental home on the 32ha property had been destroyed by fire. Otago Peninsula Senior Constable Lox Kellas said last week the cause of that fire was not believed to have been suspicious.