Tragedy has struck a small rural lifestyle community in Te Puna after a 50-year-old man living in a converted shed died when his home was destroyed by fire on Saturday night.
The alarm was raised by a passing motorist at 8.30pm but by then it was too late.
The iron roof of the Wairoa Rd home was already collapsing into the flames when the first firefighters arrived a few minutes later.
At first it was feared that two people may have perished in the blaze, until firefighters confirmed the discovery of one body.
Police were unable to release the name of the man until his identity had been checked against dental records, although Detective Senior Sergeant Lindsay Pilbrow said police believed the victim was the person who lived in the shed.
The old wooden shed sat close to the road, a short distance from the property's main house on Wairoa Rd.
Mr Pilbrow said it could be some time before officials would be able to say how or where the fire started.
Only a few charred remains were left of the shed yesterday.
"It was a tragedy," he said.
Once police had a floor plan of the shed from the family, officers would be able to identify in which part of the building the body was found.
"We will be piecing it together over the next few days," Mr Pilbrow said.
The shed was already ablaze when one of the neighbours, Ben Christison, was alerted by the sound of explosions shortly after he had put his children to bed.
He felt the force of the bangs and thought at first that it was someone letting off fireworks in Wairoa Valley.
Flames were leaping more than 6m into the air when he saw the source of the noise, just before the fire service arrived.
"I did not realise someone died in the fire until the detective came around this morning," Mr Christison said.
He did not know the man but said everything seemed to be pretty normal with his neighbours.
Another neighbour, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the family had lived on their 1ha block since about 1998 when the original property was subdivided.
He said it was a shock to learn about the death, saying they were good neighbours.
Senior Station Officer Nigel Liddicoat of the Tauranga Fire Service said the shed was destroyed in the fire.
"There was nothing much we could do," Mr Liddicoat said.
When firefighters responded to the alarm, they knew it was possible that there was a person in the building but the fire was so fully involved that they could not enter the shed. Establishing a water supply was difficult until a neighbour allowed firefighters to pump from his 20,000-litre tank.
Mr Liddicoat said the lack of water meant it took about 30 minutes to extinguish the fire and stop it spreading into trees.
Three fire appliances were needed, with water tankers dispatched from Greerton and Waihi.
A post-mortem examination was to be carried out on the victim today .
Police and victim support are working closely with the family.
Police said they were unable to release the name of the man until a formal identification had been completed and all family members were informed of the incident.