Former Masterton man Wayne Fuller was at a loss for words as he walked round the charred remains of his Lansdowne house yesterday.
"I'm feeling a bit numb at the moment," he said. "I don't even recognise it as my house."
Fire ripped through his Boltons Rd property at 6pm on Monday,
quickly engulfing the two-storey property and sending up flames that were visible from much of Masterton.
Mr Fuller said the house was currently rented but the tenants were in the process of moving out.
"If someone had been here at the time it might not have got to this," he said.
He said he had lived in the house for 30 years, but moved away three years ago to live near two of his children in Omokoroa, near Tauranga.
"There's a lot of memories, we brought the boys up here ... but that's life."
Masterton fire station officer Kevin Smith said a third of the house had been destroyed, with most of the roof.
The fire had briefly threatened neighbouring houses, with the heat melting a downpipe next door and causing a window to blow out.
But as soon as the back-up appliances arrived the situation was quickly brought under control.
Fire safety officer Bruce Cole, who investigated the blaze, said it looked like the fire had begun with a switchboard shorting out on the back porch.
The flames had then spread to the ceiling and the roof.
He ruled out any suspicious circumstances.
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