Fire guts Taruheru Crescent Kāinga Ora home in Riverdale, Gisborne

Fire and Emergency NZ sent three crews about 11.15am and firefighters stayed at the scene until well into the afternoon. Photo / Murray Robertson

“The house was fully involved when we arrived,” a senior firefighter leading the first crew said.

The roof had started to cave in at that stage.

A woman who lived there told the Gisborne Herald eight people were staying in the house and three of them were home at the time.

She declined to make further comment.

Smoke from the fire was clearly visible from many parts of the city.

“Once we’d made sure everyone was out of the house, we made an external attack on the fire,” the senior firefighter said. “Once it was safe to do so, we got inside.”

It took half an hour to bring the blaze under control, and a couple more hours to dampen it down, Gisborne Senior Station Officer Bernie Bull said.

“We estimate fire damage to the four-bedroom home at round 80% and the rest [was] severely smoke-damaged.

“Kāinga Ora will have to make a decision on whether or not it can be reinstated.”

The entire roof collapsed and the interior of the Taruheru Cres home was gutted by the blaze. It was fully involved when the first firefighter crew arrived. Photo / Murray Robertson

Bull said those living in the house had lost “pretty much” everything they owned.

“It’s not being treated as suspicious. Fire investigators have an inquiry underway into how it got started.”

This included establishing where it started, which was yet to be confirmed when the Gisborne Herald went to print.