Explosive fire at Tyndall Rd house

DAMPENING DOWN: Firefighters hose down hot spots. They were called to the fire at around 6.20am after multiple 111 calls. Picture by Paul Rickard

FIRE engulfed the front of a Kāinga Ora home in Tyndall Road this morning after neighbours reported hearing two loud explosions from inside the house.

Fire and Emergency NZ sent three appliances to the Kaiti property at around 6.20am after multiple 111 calls.

The first firefighters to arrive found the front of the house “fully involved” in fire.

“We got inside to do a search and rescue and then concentrated on an internal cut-off operation to stop the fire spreading further through the house,” one of them said.

“We managed to stop the fire in about 10 minutes and after that we concentrated on dealing with the hot spots.”

Police said a woman and several children who lived in the home had been away overnight and were not inside when the fire started.

A resident in the area told The Herald he heard two massive explosions.

“I looked out the window and saw the front of the house was engulfed in flames.”

Police at the scene this morning said the fire caused the explosions, not the other way round.

The front of the house was, destroyed, the roof collapsed at the front and there was extensive smoke and water damage.

Specialist fire investigator Derek Goodwin has started an inquiry into the cause.

“It appears to have started in the attached garage area at the front of the house,” he said.

A small vehicle in the garage was burnt out.

“The fire crews did a great job in cutting the fire off from the rear portion of the home,” Mr Goodwin said.

“But it looks unrecoverable at this stage.”

Mr Goodwin said they were in the early stages of their investigation and it was too early to say if the cause of the blaze was suspicious.