The Castle St flat caught fire just after midnight yesterday after party-goers moved a couch from the porch and set it on fire next to the flat.
The fire at the rear of the house was beginning to take hold in the exterior wall, leaving damage to weatherboards.
Police, who were dealing with hundreds of revellers at a large party at two flats elsewhere on the street, said officers attempted to extinguish the flames before the Fire Service arrived. University proctor Dave Miller called for help finding the culprits.
‘‘It is unclear who lit the fire, therefore I strongly urge any student or visitor to North Dunedin who has any information about the incident to contact the police or my office,'' Mr Miller said.
He also reiterated the university's ‘‘zero-tolerance'' approach to students deliberately lighting fires.
‘‘Students caught lighting fires, or adding fuel to fires, will be excluded from university and most likely also be processed by the police and courts.
‘‘The couch-burning incident last night reinforces why we have taken a zero tolerance approach.''
He commended the ‘‘brave actions'' of Campus Watch staff, who, along with police, dragged the burning couch away from the flat, preventing what could have been a ‘‘much worse'' outcome.
East Otago area commander Laurence Voight was ‘‘flabbergasted'' by the ‘‘complete stupidity'' of the people responsible for what he called a ‘‘malicious act''.
‘‘I actually felt a bit angry that there are people in our city behaving like this.
‘‘People are coming to Dunedin and behaving in this way, and if they are locals they should know better.''
If people continued lighting fires in the student quarter it would only be a matter of time before someone was seriously injured or killed.
He was sick of having to put up with a spike in deliberately-lit fires in the student quarter every O Week.
There were four fire callouts in the student quarter on Saturday night and yesterday morning, which was not unusual for O Week.
Flat resident Jake Stevenson (17), a student originally from Oamaru, was at a party down the street when he saw smoke and realised it was coming from his flat.
When he arrived back at the flat the flames had climbed high enough to melt the satellite dish mounted on the roof, Mr Stevenson said.
The people responsible were ‘‘idiots'' and the fire had left the flat smelling of smoke and melted a set of expensive speakers, which were owned by a friend.
Inspector Kelvin Lloyd called for an end to the culture of lighting couch fires.
‘‘We need to stop thinking that this is part of the culture of the area, and accept the very real dangers that this type of offending poses.
‘‘This is more than high-spirited antics and will result in a tragedy or injury if attitudes do not change.''Inquiries into the incident were ongoing and police wanted to speak to anyone who had any information.
The incident followed warnings from police last week, when five people were arrested, also for couch-burning.
The fire came on a busy Saturday night and Sunday morning for police, with 18 arrests, most of which were related to O Week festivities.
From Friday to early yesterday morning, there were 27 arrests, about half of which involved students.
He stressed that most of the people who had been causing trouble in the student quarter were non-students who came to Dunedin to party during O Week.
Otago University Students' Association president Laura Harris said the fire was a ‘‘very unfortunate incident that put lives at risk and must be unsettling for those living in the area''.
‘‘It is a great shame that the dangerous actions of a few have such a detrimental impact on the North Dunedin community and the majority of students don't want these types of people in our community.''
