Firefighters track down blaze in home’s wall space

Firefighters were called to battle a blaze in the wall of a house in the Dunedin suburb of Caversham on Wednesday.

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said crews from Lookout Point and St Kilda were initially sent out about 4.45pm.

They were later backed up by crews from the Dunedin station.

Crews found fire had penetrated the wall space of the home.

Fenz personnel managed to suppress the fire about 5.30pm and the property was handed over to the owner about 7pm.

"It did take quite a bit to get through to make sure the fire was fully extinguished in the wall space and to make sure it wasn’t going to spread.

"Our crews did some exposure protection as well as some external fire attack," the spokesman said.

A neighbour of the homeowner was helping suppress the fire by running her garden hose along the wall before firefighters arrived.

The homeowner’s daughter, who did not want to be named, said there was minimal damage to the building, just some smoke damage.

"It could always be a lot worse, so we’re very lucky."

Her mother was home, so she was able to alert the neighbours and get the pets — a cat and two guinea pigs — out of the house.

"That was important to her, to make sure they were safe."

The pets were taken to the neighbour’s house.

"It’s a caring community; we’re very thankful."

laine.priestley@odt.co.nz