“It was unoccupied, so there was no one living in it.
“There was no power going onto the property.”
He said police were on scene when they arrived.
“There was lots of smoke that could be seen over the whole town and lots of flames.”
Sinclair said the fire had effectively destroyed the house.
“We fought the fire from the outside initially, before we put crews in to do the final putting out of hotspots and what’s left.”
“It’s still standing, but the inside is totally gutted.”
The fire was extinguished just after 7pm.
Sinclair said it was the first Dannevirke house fire “in a while” that they had responded to.
A police spokesperson said police on patrol at the time came across the fully engulfed house.
“The house was vacant and no damage to surrounding properties were reported.
“Due to initial indications, police are treating the fire as suspicious.”