IRREPARABLE: Firefighters dampen down the remains of a spectacularly located bach near Tauranga Bay. PHOTO/PETER DE GRAAF
IRREPARABLE: Firefighters dampen down the remains of a spectacularly located bach near Tauranga Bay. PHOTO/PETER DE GRAAF
A spectacularly located house has been destroyed by fire near Tauranga Bay.
The alarm was raised just before 2pm yesterday but by the time firefighters reached the isolated bach it was too late to save it.
The single-storey pole house was located on a grassy ridge above Marble Bay andoverlooking Stephenson's Island, about 2km up a private road from Tauranga Bay, 18km north of Kaeo.
First on the scene was a rural fire boss, followed soon afterwards by a crew of three from Kaeo Fire Brigade, then an appliance from Kerikeri.
Kaeo fire chief Lindsay Murray said the time taken to reach the isolated bach and the strong wind meant there was no chance of saving it. It was unoccupied at the time. The owner is believed to live in Australia.
Water was not a problem thanks to two large water tanks on site. It was not obvious what had caused the blaze and a fire investigator was on his way from Whangarei last night to examine the cause.
Just three months earlier, a house at Tauranga Bay house was badly damaged in a fire started by a 4-year-old child playing with a candle.
