Firefighters were kept busy overnight with a series of fires across Dunedin and the wider Clutha district. A total of five separate incidents were reported, three of which are being treated as suspicious.
The first fire broke out just before 4pm at a residential property in Dunedin city. Firefighters arrived to find the house fully ablaze. The fire was contained by 9pm, and crews confirmed no one was inside the building. A fire investigator was expected to return to the site this morning.
The second incident happened in the Clutha district around 8pm, where a large shed was reported to be on fire. A Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) spokesperson said "multiple structures" were lost in the blaze, including the shed. Four fire trucks, three tankers, and a digger were deployed to fight the fire. Crews remained on site this morning, keeping an eye on hotspots.
Later in the night, emergency services were alerted to three more fires, all in Dunedin and all considered suspicious.
The first suspicious fire occurred at 11:30pm at a vacant commercial building on Harrow Street in central Dunedin. Four fire trucks and one ladder truck were sent to the scene. The blaze was contained by 12:30am, and firefighters left the scene by 3am.
At 12:25am, a second fire broke out at an unoccupied residential property, also in central Dunedin. According to a FENZ spokesperson, this blaze reached second-alarm status and involved the deployment of six appliances. The house was "well ablaze" when crews arrived, but the fire was contained within half an hour.
The final fire of the night was reported at 1:20am outside the Otago Pistol Club in Westwood. A 30-metre by 30-metre area of pine trees was on fire, with flames reaching up to 20 metres high. Five fire trucks, two tankers, and two rural crews were sent to extinguish the fire.
All three suspicious fires are under investigation. Thankfully, no injuries were reported in any of the incidents.