{"id":318568,"date":"2026-03-08T03:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T03:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/318568\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T03:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T03:02:07","slug":"tenant-pare-mereana-tamihana-causes-house-fire-after-lighting-cigarette-next-to-gas-cylinder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/318568\/","title":{"rendered":"Tenant Pare Mereana Tamihana causes house fire after lighting cigarette next to gas cylinder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"QOlBexkCgF\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThe premises were rendered uninhabitable and will require a full rebuild,\u201d tribunal adjudicator Jacci Setefano said in a recently released decision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"QOlBexkCgF\" style=\"display:none\">A police report provided to the tribunal confirmed that the fire occurred in the lounge where the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/nz\/christchurch\/evacuations-after-suspected-gas-bottle-explosion-in-christchurch\/GCIPKRPD5BB2PBUMQEVAUW2S3U\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/nz\/christchurch\/evacuations-after-suspected-gas-bottle-explosion-in-christchurch\/GCIPKRPD5BB2PBUMQEVAUW2S3U\/\"> gas cylinder <\/a>was being stored and was related to the presence of gas and a cigarette.<\/p>\n<p class=\"QOlBexkCgF\" style=\"display:none\">A fire investigator deemed the circumstances \u201csuspicious\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"QOlBexkCgF\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThe evidence indicates that the tenant was aware of the smell of gas earlier in the day, yet chose to smoke a cigarette indoors near a 45kg LPG cylinder \u2013 a highly volatile and dangerous combination,\u201d Setefano said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"QOlBexkCgF\" style=\"display:none\">According to the Environmental Protection Authority, a typical portable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/nz\/man-burnt-disconnecting-gas-cylinder\/FTZPPDJEQDK4JAW3YAHDRVRWLE\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/nz\/man-burnt-disconnecting-gas-cylinder\/FTZPPDJEQDK4JAW3YAHDRVRWLE\/\">domestic LPG cylinder holds 9kg<\/a> and is the largest cylinder allowed inside a home. <\/p>\n<p class=\"QOlBexkCgF\" style=\"display:none\">The 45kg cylinders are commonly used for fixed domestic LPG heating installations and should be kept outside.<\/p>\n<p class=\"QOlBexkCgF\" style=\"display:none\">Tamihana was also not allowed to smoke inside and had said on her pre-tenancy agreement she was a non-smoker.<\/p>\n<p class=\"QOlBexkCgF\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThe tribunal finds this conduct to be more than carelessness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"QOlBexkCgF\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThe act of lighting a cigarette indoors in the presence of a gas cylinder, after smelling gas, reflects a knowing disregard for the safety of the property and the certainty of risk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"QOlBexkCgF\" style=\"display:none\">Despite the landlords having a valid insurance policy, they incurred an excess of $5000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"QOlBexkCgF\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThis is an actual, measurable loss arising directly from the tenant\u2019s conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"QOlBexkCgF\" style=\"display:none\">Setefano said Tamihana was liable for the excess and ordered her to pay the landlord $5000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"QOlBexkCgF\" style=\"display:none\">Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe premises were rendered uninhabitable and will require a full rebuild,\u201d tribunal adjudicator Jacci Setefano said in a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74,23604,20787,110977,2079,16460,10053,46765,97210,111,139,1536,69,90556,213,172430,10050,61],"class_list":["post-318568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-after","tag-causes","tag-cigarette","tag-cylinder","tag-fire","tag-gas","tag-house","tag-lighting","tag-mereana","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nz","tag-pare","tag-sports","tag-tamihana","tag-tenant","tag-to"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}