Palmerston North garage blaze spreads to adjoining homes

A Palmerston North garage fire was so intense that it spread to neighbouring homes.

The homeowner called emergency services at approximately 4.30pm on Sunday to report a garage at the rear of the property was on fire.

Milson Fire station chief officer Kerry Williams said one of their crew arrived on scene within five minutes but the shed was already well involved.

"We knew it was on fire from the amount of smoke we could see on our way there…and from how black the smoke was."

He said the first step for the crew was to ascertain whether there were any occupants or people at risk, but thankfully there was no one inside.

However a neighbouring shed and sleep-out were exposed to the radiating heat and began catching fire.

Firefighters worked to put out these exposures first, before moving onto the shed.

Williams said they began making headway on the main fire, which took more than an hour to contain, once the second crew arrived.

"At the beginning we only had one crew so we were pretty busy.

"This heat we are having at the moment is an issue for us wearing our gear."

He said very little was left of the shed and the possessions inside, and believed the fire may have been caused by an electrical fault.

"After discussions with the homeowner…that's something we have considered.

"Neighbours also told us they had been suggesting cleaning up the shed which was packed with a lot of gear."

Three fire applicances attended and an ambulance was also called for precautionary measures.

"One man who tried helping thought he may have burnt his face. Luckily he hadn't…he was probably just very hot."