A person has died in a house fire in Whitby, Porirua, and a second person was in hospital in a stable condition. A dog also died in the blaze, police said. A neighbour told RNZ the people who lived in the home were from a tight knit family who’d lived in the area for years. They were lovely, private people, she said. Another neighbour said an elderly couple lived in the house. They said one of the couple had just retired and the other had a recent cancer battle.
RNZ’s reporter at the scene said the fire had been extinguished. Emergency services were called to the Lanyon Place address about 2.20am on Thursday. Eight crews fought the blaze. Just before 8am, Fire and Emergency were still at the scene dampening down hot spots and investigating the house which was unstable.
Police said they were providing support to the family of those involved. Fire and Emergency investigators and police will carry out a scene examination to determine the cause of the fire.