Police and a fire crew from Carterton Fire Station responded to a callout to a fire on Sunday morning that is being treated as a suspected arson.
Carterton Fire Station chief Bryan Styles said they responded just after 5am “with one appliance and a tanker after reports of a car on fire”.
“It was a ute that was on fire, and subsequently another vehicle that was close also suffered some damage.
“We would have been there for 40 minutes; it didn’t take us long to put out the fire, but we did have to dampen it.
Police are treating the incident as suspicious.
Wairarapa Police area prevention manager Gill Flower said the burning vehicle – an Isuzu D-Max – was “totally destroyed.”
“It is definitely arson, it didn’t start by itself,” Flower said.
“An occupant sleeping in another vehicle close to the ute woke up to the sound of loud banging and crackling and needed to leave her car.
“Initially, we put a scene guard on as we always do in a crime scene; they were on for most of the day.”
Flower said that the adjacent car did receive some damage, but it’s understood its occupant made it out safely, and there was no medical assistance required.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand investigator will be conducting an investigation in conjunction with the police’s Criminal Investigation Branch.
