'She was pretty bad,' House destroyed in Havelock North after early morning fire

A house has been destroyed by flames, after firefighters were called to a Havelock North property twice in less than 12 hours.

Fire and Emergency Services extinguished a shed fire at the property on Lipscombe Cres Tuesday afternoon, before being called back to a second fire around 2.20am on New Year's Day.

A FENZ spokesperson said they were orginially called to a shed fire shortly after 5pm on Tuesday evening.

He described it as "well-involved," when emergency services arrived, with two appliances from Havelock North and one from Hastings attending.

Emergency Services were on the scene for about 2 hours.

They then returned to the property around 2.20am, to attend a second "well-involved" fire, this time destroying the house on the property.

READ MORE:
• Bonfires and rubbish fires keep Hawke's Bay fire and emergency services busy
• Person 'critical' after Taradale, Hawke's Bay, garage fire
• Overnight watch kept on fire site at Hawke's Bay forestry block
• Massive fire on Hawke's Bay's iconic Te Mata Peak

Multiple appliances from both Hastings and Havelock North attended the second fire.

It was put out after half an hour, but the spokesperson said most of the house had been gutted.

Fire investigators were at the property on Wednesday morning.

One told Hawke's Bay Today they were still making enquiries into the cause of the fire, but could confirm no one was inside the house at the time of the blaze.

He said neighbours had been alerted to the fire after the smoke alarms went off.

Neighbour Hayden Collins said he became aware of the second fire after his neighbours let him know.

"It was pretty warm out here," he said of the fire's intensity.

"She was pretty bad."

A police spokesperson confirmed they had been notified around 3.20am as the fire appeared to be connected to the earlier fire at the property.

She could not confirm if they were investigating at this time as they were waiting on further detail from fire investigators.

The street is no stranger to fires, a shed on the street was destroyed by fire in June last year, the fire visible from the top of Te Mata Peak.