Roof fire causes major damage to unoccupied property
A fire investigator is working to determine the cause of a house fire in Shannon after the roof caught fire.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) was alerted to the fire on Grey St at 11.15pm on Thursday by a neighbour who was out walking, Manawatū-Whanganui assistant commander Craig Gold said.
Four crews from Levin, Shannon, Foxton and Tokomaru were sent to the scene.
When a fire started in a roof, it was “really difficult to extinguish”, Gold said.
The property was unoccupied and was understood to be in the middle of renovations, meaning there were no working smoke alarms. The fire had caused significant damage, he said.
Fire crews left the scene about 2.40am. A fire investigator was at the scene yesterday morning, working to determine the cause of the blaze.
The house was still standing, and there didn’t appear to be much damage to the exterior.
Firefighters had cut holes in the walls and roof while they were putting the blaze out, and some parts of the house were charred. The property had been fenced off.
The house’s owner, Roy Dekker, lives in Wellington but had been coming up to stay at the house three nights a week to do renovations. “I’m gutted, all right,” he said. “More than gutted – I’m devastated.”
He was at the scene yesterday, waiting for firefighters and police to complete their investigations.
A tenant had recently moved out, and no-one was in the house at the time of the fire, he said. “We had seized the opportunity while we haven’t got a tenant to fix it up and give it a paint job.”
He said he had lost some furniture and household items but had insurance cover.
Dekker said the firefighters had done an amazing job to stop the flames from spreading further.
Gold said it was lucky the Tokomaru volunteer fire brigade was able to be alerted to the incident, given that its siren had been stolen from the roof of its station earlier in the week.
Sirens were the primary means by which Fenz notified local volunteers of local emergencies, he said.
There were alternative methods, but the theft had put the community at risk. “It is simply a level of stupidity you rarely come across.”
Technicians worked to replace the stolen equipment on Wednesday, and police were investigating.