Cromwell house badly damaged, neighbouring home evacuated during late-night fire

Monday, 15 March 2021

A Central Otago man has escaped a late-night house fire without injury after being woken by a smoke alarm.

Emergency services were called to the fire on Horace St in Cromwell shortly after 11pm on Sunday.

The house was “well ablaze” when three crews from Cromwell and another from Clyde arrived, Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman Brent Dunn said.

He said no-one was injured in the blaze but there was “extensive damage” to the rear of the home.

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Crews were able to stop the fire spreading to any nearby structures, but a neighbouring property was evacuated as a precaution, Dunn said.

The fire was extinguished shortly after 12.50am.

Specialist fire investigator Marty Jillings said a man, the sole occupant of the home, was able to escape the fire because he was woken by working smoke alarms.

The fire badly burnt the rear of the house and the whole building had significant smoke damage.

Jilliings said the fire highlighted the importance of having working smoke alarms as they saved lives.

The circumstances of the fire were still under investigation, but it was not considered suspicious at this stage.