PHOTO/GIANINA SCHWANECKE
GIANINA SCHWANECKE
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Wairarapa residents have again been reminded to take care when lighting fires, after a backyard timber fire almost led to a house going up in flames early Wednesday morning.
Two crews from Masterton Fire Station responded to the blaze at a residential address on South Rd shortly after 1.20am.
Masterton Fire Station officer Kevin Smith said they found a “huge fire” at the back of the property upon arrival.
“From the road it appeared the building was on fire. It was within five metres of it.”
He said the fire was “well involved” and the heat it generated had broken a window and melted spouting.
The house was undergoing renovations, and the owners who lived in a cottage at the front of the property weren’t aware of the fire until after the firefighters showed up, he said.
No one was injured and the building had only minor damage.
It took firefighters just under three hours to contain the blaze.
Smith said the fire was believed to have been caused by an incinerator which had been burning during the day.
A fire started in a bed of garden bark, travelling along a wooden fence to a pile of timber which would have been used in the renovations.
“It’s a reminder to people that even though we’ve gone into an open fire season, people are still responsible for fires that they light,” he said.
“Had it gotten out of control and damaged someone else’s property there could have been charges.”
The owners of the property did not wish to comment.
