A Hawke's Bay fire investigator is confident a blaze which badly injured a man in Hastings late last night is not linked to a spate of arsons in the same localised corner of its Hastings suburb.
The fire was reported at 10.38pm in a flat attached to a house in Lardon Place, in a newly-built northern corner of Frimley where one car was torched and attempts made to burn four others less than 24 hours earlier.
Five other vehicles had been destroyed by suspected arson in the area in the previous four months dating back to late May, one of those fires also being in Lardon Place.
New Zealand Fire Service risk management officer Bob Palmer confirmed today an explosion preceded last night's fire, from which a man thought to be aged about 30 was taken by the St John Ambulance Service to nearby Hawke's Bay Hospital, suffering injuries to his face, hands and thighs. He was early today in a critical condition in the intensive care unit.
No one else was understood to have been injured, although the man's mother, her partner and two children lived in the house adjoining the accommodation.