Large house fire in Eltham is the third fire in two days in the South Taranaki town

Firefighters from Eltham, Kaponga, New Plymouth and Stratford attended the scene.

A house fire in Eltham has left a property extensively damaged this morning.

No one was injured in the fire, which was the third blaze in the town in just 24 hours.

The fire was at a property on High St, just opposite Eltham Primary School. High St is on SH3, the main through road in the town and traffic was diverted for a while to keep the area clear while the firefighters battled the blaze.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand shift manager for Central, Jill Webley, says the fire service was alerted to the fire at just before 8am.

"Four urban fire appliances attended the fire, as did a specialist vehicle from New Plymouth."

Eltham fire brigade chief fire officer David Waite says the blaze has left the house badly damaged.

"The fire was well involved when we arrived and it has left the house extensively damaged internally."

The house is not habitable in its current state, he says.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Jill says the fire is being treated as suspicious at this point of time.

On Thursday morning the fire service attended two blazes within a short time of each other in Eltham, just a few streets away from the location of today's blaze. Those fires are also being treated as suspicious.

A police spokesperson says an investigation is currently under way to determine if the three fires are connected.