A fire in a holiday house between Alexandra and Clyde yesterday morning prompted a warning about the safety of open fireplaces in some older homes.
Firefighters from Clyde and Alexandra spent about three hours at the Airport Rd home.
Clyde Chief Fire Officer Richard Davidson said it was fortunate the owners were in the house at the time, and that it had happened during the day.
The open fire was being used and timber around the fireplace got so hot it caught alight and the fire spread to within the wall, he said.
"This is quite a common cause of fires in houses built in this era [1974]. The fireplace is a concrete slab and it was made using timber for boxing. The beams that held the boxing and surrounding timber is what's gone on fire in this case, and it's not unusual for that to happen."
The home owners had noticed smoke coming out under the eaves of the house.
Firemen removed tiles from the roof and some wall linings to find the source of the smoke and fight the fire.
The damage was confined to the wall linings.
The fireplace would not be used again, Mr Davidson said.
