Despite being internally gutted by fire, a Martinborough house is still standing thanks to a quick response from local brigades.
The owner of the Dublin St house called 111 shortly after midnight on Sunday morning after a faulty panel gas heater caught fire.
Martinborough’s brigade responded before the incident was upgraded to alert level two, with more crews assisting from Greytown, Featherston, Carterton, Masterton, Remutaka, and Trentham.
A Fire and Emergency Spokesperson said it took the team of over 20 firefighters an hour to get the blaze under control.
“The owner said she had just arrived home – she managed to get out safely,” they said.
“You probably couldn’t tell the extent of the damage from the street. There’s just a bit of scorching on the roof, but it’s probably 60 per cent destroyed inside.”
The spokesperson said fighting the fire was a tricky job: it had spread into the low-pitch roof space, and firefighters needed to pull the ceiling down to extinguish it.
“It’s a good thing we arrived when we did because usually when we get to a house fire, it has already mostly burnt to the ground.
“We definitely saved the structure, but I guess it’s up to the insurance company to decide what to do with it now.”
Fire and Emergency [Fenz] is investigating what specific fault in the gas heater caused the fire, which is not being treated as suspicious.
