Suspicious Rotorua house fire investigated, scene guard in place

• A house fire in Rotorua’s Fairy Springs is being treated as suspicious by Fire and Emergency NZ.
• A neighbour reported hearing a “bang” and saw the house fully ablaze, with no injuries reported.
• Police are assisting with the investigation, and a scene guard remains in place.

A neighbour of a house that caught fire in the Rotorua suburb of Fairy Springs was awoken by a “bang” and heard smashing windows and sparking wires.

A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said a scene guard was in place after last night’s fire, which happened on Fenruss St about midnight.

The service was treating it as suspicious.

The house was well involved in fire and about 15m by 10m in size, the spokesman said, and there were no reports of anyone in the house.

A neighbour, who didn’t want to be named, told the Rotorua Daily Post her son woke up to a “bang”, went outside and saw the house on fire.

A scene guard at a Fenruss St house that caught fire overnight. Photo / Ben Fraser

“He pretty much saw everything happen. He came back in, gave the fire brigade a call.

“It was fully ablaze. It was freaky.”

The neighbour said her son could feel the fire’s heat from their home’s front doorstep. They could also hear smashing windows and sparking wires.

The neighbour said the house was usually occupied by a family with young children, but their cars were not there last night.

A house caught fire on Fenruss St overnight. Photo / Ben Fraser

It took about three hours for the firefighters to get the blaze under control, she said. The overnight rain had stopped when the fire started.

The neighbour said thankfully for their home and family, the wind was blowing in the other direction.

“We were like, oh my gosh, don’t blow this way.”

Another neighbour said he heard a window smash and got up to see what was going on.

“[I saw an] ambient glow in the air of orange. Pretty scary.”

He said he could feel the heat and was worried.

“I was a bit stressed. The fire brigade was here real quick.”

He said the flames got about “six foot” above the chimney.

Four fire trucks and a support vehicle attended the fire, and left just before 3am.

A police spokesman said they were called to help Fire and Emergency New Zealand deal with a fire on Fenruss St.

“There have been no reports of injuries and a scene guard was put in place overnight.

A house caught fire on Fenruss St overnight. Photo / Ben Fraser

“Police are now assisting Fire and Emergency investigators in their inquiries.”

A fire investigator was heading back to the house this morning.