Daylight arson attack on Tihiotonga house

15th July 2010

A damaged and abandoned three-storey Rotorua house has been set alight in an arson attack.

The Rotorua Fire Service was called to the Exeter Pl house in Tihiotonga, where a suspicious fire had started shortly before 3pm yesterday.

Senior station officer Jim Prescott of the Rotorua Fire Service said a neighbour alerted emergency services and firefighters "strongly suspect arson".

Mr Prescott said two fire appliances went to the property and fire safety investigators would be looking into the cause and would pass any information on to police.

However, Mr Prescott was confident the fire was arson.

"Because the power is cut off and it is unoccupied it has to be deliberate," Mr Prescott said.

Rotorua police are investigating.

Mr Prescott said the house suffered fire damage to the flooring and ceiling of the top floor.

The house was already extensively ruined before the fire, Mr Prescott said.

A neighbour, who didn't want to be identified, said she was putting washing on her clothesline when she smelled smoke.

When she went out on the road to see where it was coming from, she saw the house on fire.

The woman said the house had been derelict for at least 16 years and described it as a "wreck".

"I would like to see it demolished because it really is a wreck," the woman said.

She said "peculiar" people had being using the house over the years.

The woman said she had complained to the Rotorua District Council about the house, which had appeared in The Daily Post.

"The house has been a real problem in the neighbourhood," she said.