Hokio Beach house gutted

A Horowhenua house has been destroyed by fire in suspicious circumstances.

The single-storey house at Hokio Beach caught fire about 10.45pm on Friday and was gutted. The house was vacant and noone was injured.

A police spokesperson confirmed the fire was being treated as suspicious and said inquiries are being made. Investigators completed a scene examination yesterday morning.

The entire inside of the house is black and charred and parts of the corrugated iron roof have caved in.

Long grass around the house caught fire too and it could have spread to neighbouring houses but was stopped as the fire was brought under control about 3.20am.

The house was owned by the Hokio Ma¯ori Township Trust, which Philip Taueki is involved with. He assessed the damage on Saturday morning and said he believed the fire was deliberately lit.

‘‘It’s pretty well written off now,’’ he said. ‘‘It was empty.

‘‘[Fire officers] were trying to find the source of it. They reckon there were two sources, one in the lounge in front and one down the hallway in the bathroom area, but they couldn’t find any accelerant.

‘‘They could have lit a bit of paper.’’

The house, which was not insured, will have to be pulled down because it is unsafe.

Taueki said no-one had been living in the house.

In 2016 the house next door was burnt down in suspicious circumstances.

One neighbour, who did not want to be named, was alerted to the fire by another neighbour, then called the fire service.

‘‘What I did see through the window was that the whole house was burning from one end to the other . . . I heard banging and stuff . . . I thought someone was shooting a gun.’’

Levin chief fire officer Lindsay Walker said they sent more crews than they normally would to a house fire.

Two fire engines from Levin were called, along with engines from Waita¯ rere Beach and O¯ taki.

‘‘It was a well-involved fire . . . it took a couple of hours to get it down to dampening,’’ he said.

‘‘They couldn’t go in and investigate or do a lot because of risk of collapse. Safety concerns were paramount for the officer in charge.’’