It is believed a couple and at least one child had been living in the house.
Sergeant Phil Le Comte, of Mid North police, said the extensive house fire was the subject of continuing inquiries by police and Fire and Emergency NZ.
A man had been arrested and was expected to appear in the Kaikohe District Court today
charged with arson in relation to the fire. He was held in police custody in Whangārei overnight.
It was the sixth serious house fire in the Far North in less than six weeks. All but two were in the Kawakawa-Moerewa area.
The arrested man is not connected to any of the previous five fires, with all but one deemed not suspicious.
On December 7 a family lost everything they owned in a fire on Mason Ave, Moerewa, while on December 18 a house in Tangonge Cres, Kaitaia, was destroyed in a suspicious blaze.
On Christmas Eve a family lost their home on Hautapu Rd, near Moerewa, when a fish smoker on the deck caught fire.
On New Year's Eve solo dad Tui Strachan and his eight children were left homeless after a fire on Leonard St in Kawakawa.
On January 5 a home at Umawera, on State Highway 1 north of Ōkaihau, was destroyed. The following day the Ōkaihau brigade managed to save a house at Mangamuka after a cigarette ignited the deck.
