Fire starts in empty house

A fire at an empty house being renovated in Picton, shortly after midnight on Friday, is under investigation, says Picton chief fire officer Wayne Wytenburg.

The fire was in the basement of the property on Canterbury St, Mr Wytenburg said.

The rest of the house had started filling with smoke by the time firefighters arrived. It was lucky somebody, either a neighbour or a passerby, saw the flames and called 111, he said.

"It wasn't too big but had potential," Mr Wytenburg said.

"There was a fair bit of smoke."

The blaze was being investigated to find a cause.

"We are not saying it's suspicious but with nobody being in the house, alarm bells start going off.

"It could be arson or it could be a poor clean up leading to spontaneous combustion. We want to eliminate those possibilities."

A fire crew from Blenheim responded to the call but were told to stand down before they reached Picton.

- The Marlborough Express