A fire in remote Wanganui hill country destroyed a house and its outbuildings before fire crews could get there.
It took the Wanganui firefighters more than an hour to reach the Ahu Ahu Valley Rd address on Wednesday evening, station officer Shane Dudley said.
The blaze, which is being treated as suspicious, started when nobody was home.
Firefighters were called out at about 5pm. "When we got there the house and shed were a total loss," Mr Dudley said.
"That's why it's super important for people who live up there to have smoke alarms."