'Frightening' fire brought under control

MARION VAN DIJK/FAIRFAX NZ

BURNOUT: Fire fighters attend to a house fire at Bill and Lyn Broughton's home in Wakapuaka.

Lyn and Bill Broughton saw smoke billowing from their 18-year-old wooden house in Wakapuaka yesterday afternoon - and it didn't look good.

Firefighters from the Glen Hira Rural Fire Force and the Nelson Fire Service responded to the fire about 4.30pm.

Mrs Broughton, an artist, said she and her husband saw smoke above their property from State Highway 6 on their way home from town.

"I saw it from the road and was hoping that it wasn't my house on fire, but it sure looked like it," she said.

Mrs Broughton said there were flames on the outside of the house, and a lot of smoke. She suspected it was caused by the pool pump next to their house.

There was a bit of damage to the wooden cladding, and the bathroom next to the pool pump, but she and her husband were allowed back inside.

"It's kind of minor - just a bit frightening. If we hadn't got home until four o'clock ... you just don't know."

- © Fairfax NZ News