Home destroyed after dryer catches fire

morning after: A fault with a dryer caused a fire that destroyed a home in Crawford Road last night. The man and two women living in the house were alerted by the sound of breaking glass coming from their laundry at about 9.40pm and left the house straight away. Picture by Paul Rickard

A home in Crawford Road in Kaiti was destroyed by fire last night and the cause points to a fault with a clothes dryer in the laundry at the rear of the villa.

Fire and Emergency NZ received multiple 111 calls at around 9.40pm and six appliances from the city, Manutuke and Te Karaka responded.

“The house was fully involved in fire when the first crew arrived,” said Senior Station Officer Ed Hindmarsh.

“We believe the fire started in the laundry and the flames got up into the ceiling void and spread very rapidly through the old home.”

The man and two women living there managed to get out without any injury.

“They told us they were alerted to the fire by the sound of breaking glass coming from their laundry, and quickly realised they should get out of the house straight away.”

Some 24 firefighters took around half-an-hour to control the blaze.

“We had crews there till around 1am this morning dampening down the remains, and a final check on the situation was made at around 3am,” SSO Hindmarsh said. “We believe the fire started somehow in an electrical appliance in the laundry and it appears to have been a clothes dryer.”

The family living in the house lost everything in the fire.

Specialist fire investigator Derek Goodwin went to the property this morning to carry out a scene examination.

“The crews who attended last night were told an old dryer had been going in the laundry,” Mr Goodwin said.

“On inspection I can confirm that something has happened in that dryer.

“I'm not sure if the lint in it had been cleaned out or not but either way it's a timely reminder for people to ensure they keep their dryer well cleaned before each use.”