Fire guts Tolaga Bay home

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A house in Hauiti Road in Tolaga Bay township was extensively damaged by fire late yesterday afternoon.Three young people in the home suffered the effects of some smoke inhalation.

Fire and Emergency NZ sent appliances from Tolaga Bay, Tokomaru Bay and Gisborne to the scene at around 4.30pm.

“I could see the smoke from my house when I went to the fire station. The house was fully ablaze then,” a Tolaga Bay volunteer senior firefighter said.

“We managed to knock it down fairly quick.”

He said the fire started in the rear of the older-style home.

“The young people inside got out without injury but they were affected by the smoke.”

A family of two adults and three youngsters aged 13 to 17 lived in the home.

“They have lost everything in the fire,” the senior firefighter said.

“The house is still standing, the roof is still in place, but everything inside is gutted.”

A St John ambulance crew from Gisborne and the Tolaga Bay First Response Unit responded too, treating the young people at the scene for minor smoke inhalation.

The family were taken in for the night by other whanau members in Tolaga Bay.

The fire crews were there for several hours dampening down.

Specialist fire investigatior Derek Goodwin was called in to investigate and establish a cause for the blaze.

Police said the cause was not being treated as suspicious.