Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) fire risk management officer John Smalls said the fire in the Lochiel house last Friday was still under investigation, but he believed a metal case near the top of the chimney, designed to prevent water entering around the flue, had rusted away, allowing ashes to fall on timberwork in the building and start the fire.
"The flue was clean, so we know it wasn’t a chimney fire and it was down low, so we know the heat of the flue hasn’t transferred to the rest of the adjoining timber."
The incident served as a timely reminder for homeowners to ask their chimney sweep to inspect the chimney each time they had it swept.
A fire the same day in a Gore house is still under investigation.
The Gorton St fire left a man with serious injuries and the house extensively damaged.
Mr Smalls said due to the extent of the damage, investigators needed to speak with the man and if they could not, the fire’s cause would remain unknown.
The man was understood to be in intensive care this week, but was expected to recover. A third fire, in Dunedin on Wednesday last week, in which two quick-thinking men saved a Caversham house from being engulfed in flames by using a garden hose, was believed by Fenz staff to have been caused by hot ashes in a plastic bucket placed on the back porch.
