A man with a sack and a woman with a garden hose provided the initial response to a suspicious fire in the backyard of a Wanganui house yesterday afternoon.
The unofficial firefighters did a pretty good job of keeping the blaze at bay until the fire service arrived at the Castlecliff property around 4.10pm.
Station officer Bryan Coskerie said the Carson Street fire was "potentially quite nasty because it got very close to a house".
An area about 20 metres square was burned and an investigation is likely because there was no obvious cause.
A neighbour said she had seen children hanging around before the fire started.