Documents released to the Otago Daily Times said that on September 7, Fenz crews from the Winton Fire Brigade were called to a vacant house on fire in Grange St, Winton, at 4.30am.
Upon arrival, crews found the property was well involved and a second alarm was raised, calling in two more crews, one from the Browns station and one from Wallacetown. Once the fire was brought under control, a fire investigator was called to the scene as the blaze was being treated as suspicious.
The report said the home was a three-bedroom house that had been used as a rental property, but had been vacant and awaiting demolition when it went up in flames.
A Grange St resident, who did not want to be named, said the house was "very much lived in" despite the condition it appeared to be in from the outside.
"The owner lived there on and off every few weeks," she said.
"It was well kept and tidy on the inside ... [on the outside] the paint was peeling off the house extensively and the weather boards rotting from no maintenance."
The resident saw people at the property days before the fire moving belongings out of the home and handing out unwanted possessions to neighbours.
The fire investigator’s investigation started externally, and they found fire damage throughout the entire house.
Most of the damage was focused around the laundry, the report said.
A hole was found in what was left of the properties structural timber that indicated a high level of burning compared to the rest of the structure.
"This was in the area of a light switch and socket ... the remains of the cables were checked for signs of arcing or a similar event, but nothing could be identified," the report said.
The investigation included testing for the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which if found could have indicated whether a flammable liquid was present at the time of the fire breaking out.
"The [test] indicated insufficient levels of VOCs to establish the likely presence of a flammable liquid being used as an accelerant," the report said.
It also noted that the lack of VOCs found by the test did not rule out a flammable liquid being present.
The investigator ruled that the source of the fire could not be determined.
"The most likely area of origin is close to the hole in the structural timber, but no reliable ignition source could be identified," the report finished.
