Fire completely guts Shannon house
Firefighters spent about three hours extinguishing the blaze early on Saturday.
A house in Shannon has been destroyed in a fire that was well ablaze when firefighters got to the scene.
A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said the house was engulfed in flames when firefighters from Shannon and Tokomaru arrived about 3.10am on Saturday.
Firefighters spent about three hours extinguishing the blaze at the Clapham St house.
The spokesman said no-one was injured, but it was unclear whether the home was occupied at the time.
After waking up to her dogs barking, neighbour Karina Manihera went outside and saw the house across the road in flames.
She could feel the heat from the house.
Manihera called emergency services, but the flames had already burst through the roof of the home, she said.
‘‘It was quite scary.
‘‘I couldn’t even talk on the phone properly.’’
Her husband Maurice Manihera ran to the next-door neighbour’s house to get them out as the flames drew closer.
It was sad seeing the house destroyed, as he used to live there as a teenager, he said.
‘‘It’s kind of sentimental for me to see it going up.’’
It was also tough for the community, as house prices increased and it became harder to find good homes, Maurice Manihera said.
It had been upgraded since he lived there, he said.
He thought the home had been unoccupied for several years.
When the fire broke out, people gathered in their cars to see the home engulfed in flames, Maurice Manihera said.
On Sunday, people were still passing by to have a look as there weren’t often fires that bad in Shannon, he said.
The fire is under investigation.