Offduty firefighter saves building

QUICK thinking by an offduty Dunedin firefighter helped save a small building in Palmerston from being damaged in a suspicious fire early on Saturday.

The firefighter, who was apparently on his way to work, was driving past the Ronaldsay St property, near the township’s southern outskirts, shortly after 5am when he noticed a small fire near the building, Palmerston Volunteer Fire Brigade fire chief Gary Johnston said.

The man, who lives in the area, stopped to help and also flagged down a passing Oceana Gold utility and used the fire extinguisher from that vehicle to help extinguish the fire.

The fire was regarded as suspicious and had been referred to the police.

The Palmerston brigade was alerted at 5.29am and sent an an appliance to dampen a small area of grass where the fire had taken place, Mr Johnston said.

A police spokeswoman said police had also been alerted to the fire, and had later spoken to a man about the matter, but the outcome of those inquiries was not immediately known, she said.

The building, a small garage which was being converted into a sleepout, escaped serious damage, with only some minor external scorching.

Mr Johnston said firefighters were ‘‘never off duty’’, and the passing firefighter’s swift action had avoided much more serious property damage, and had stopped the fire spreading more widely through nearby grass.