A fire which ripped through an Invercargill home early yesterday morning took firefighters two hours to extinguish.
Substantial damage to the 1940s three-bedroom house in Bamborough St included the living, kitchen and deck areas at the east end.
Emergency services were called to the blaze at 1.46am.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said the property was well alight when firefighters arrived.
The fire took up to two hours to extinguish before crews could remove roof tiles to check the double-skinned roof area.
A Fenz fire investigator was on the scene yesterday to examine how the fire started.
