Crews kept busy by residential fires

BY SAM MCKNIGHT

Invercargill firefighters were called to battle two residential fires in the city during the weekend, with a Gelengarry house and a Rosedale garage going up in flames.

No-one was hurt in either incident.

Station officer Colin Russell said the Fire Service was called to a Margaret St house about 7am on Saturday and found a house engulfed in flames.

Four appliances were called to the scene and five firefighters in breathing apparatus searched the house believing someone was inside, Mr Russell said.

They later discovered the sole male occupant had escaped before they arrived, he said.

Firefighters had to lift part of the roof to aid ventilation and release some heat but they could not prevent fire damage to 60 per cent of the house.

It took more than four hours to put out the fire, Mr Russell said.

He believed there were no operational smoke alarms in the house.

Fire risk management officer Crawford Morris said it appeared the fire started in one of the front rooms, the kitchen or dining area.

It spread into the lounge and the roof, and was beginning to make its way up the hallway, he said.

The cause of the blaze had not been determined and he and another investigator would be taking another look today, Mr Morris said.

Another fire, just before 1am on Saturday, destroyed a Salford St garage. Mr Russell said crews used two low-pressure and one high-pressure hose to bring the blaze under control.

It spread to an adjoining garage and had begun to threaten nearby houses when they arrived, he said.

There were no vehicles in either garage, Mr Russell said. Mr Morris said the cause of that blaze was a gas heater setting alight a bed occupied by a person using it as a sleepout.

Once it got going, it quickly spread to the walls, which were covered in carpet, he said.

The garage had a smoke alarm but it was not operational, Mr Morris said.

It was fortunate no-one was hurt in either incident, he said.

Meanwhile, Naseby and Ranfurly firefighters responded to their second major fire in the Maniototo within a week when a wooden house in Naseby was gutted yesterday afternoon.

Naseby chief fire officer John McGirr said the probable cause of the fire was hot ashes being put in a plastic bucket.

On Monday last week, three businesses were lost in a major fire in Ranfurly.

- © Fairfax NZ News