A man died in a suspicious rural house fire in Northland yesterday, despite neighbours desperately fighting the flames with buckets of water from a nearby pond.
One neighbour said eight local people rushed to the blazing house when the alarm was raised about 1.15pm at the farming community of Waikiekie, 36km south of Whangarei.
"The flames were popping, and fire was coming out the windows," said the neighbour, who would not be named.
Firefighters later removed a man's body from the scene.
Whangarei Senior Sergeant Peter Stokes said police and the Fire Service were treating the blaze as suspicious.
It appeared graffiti had been written on the walls of surrounding sheds.
The wooden weatherboard house was well ablaze when two fire appliances arrived.
Fire safety officer Malcolm Langdon said there appeared to be two separate fires on the property.
He believed one started in a nearby shed, and another at the back of the house, rapidly spreading and engulfing the building.
"We don't know if there were smoke alarms. It's hard to tell anything from the rubble that's left," he said.
Ruakaka chief fire officer Roy Buchanan said the house and shed had been completely destroyed.
"It would be the worst house fire the Ruakaka brigade has seen this year."
- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)
Man dies in suspicious Northland fire
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