Specialist fire investigator Barry Gibson, of Dunedin, examined the gutted three-bedroom house on Yarmouth St yesterday. He said the fire started in the garage and spread up into the house, boosted by liquid fuel stored in the garage. Two LPG cylinders also caught fire.
''It's a good idea to put flammables in areas away from the house.''
He said the fire was ''probably a good lesson'' about how quickly fires spread.
''From the time the occupants smelled the fire, and by the time it was found, it was well alight.''
There were smoke alarms in the house, but not the garage, and Mr Gibson would need to talk to the tenants before he was able to confirm whether the smoke alarms were working at the time of the fire.
He said it was worth considering ''hard-wiring'' smoke alarms so they all went off at once in the event of a fire.
Mr Gibson said the cause of the fire was not yet known; he was looking at three potential causes in the garage.
Detective Constable Robin Hutton, of Balclutha, said police would no longer be investigating as the fire was not considered suspicious.
He said the house was rented to a family of six - a man, a woman and their four children aged under 9.
