{"id":318800,"date":"2026-03-08T06:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T06:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/318800\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T06:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T06:46:09","slug":"tenant-pare-mereana-tamihana-causes-house-fire-after-lighting-cigarette-next-to-gas-cylinder-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/318800\/","title":{"rendered":"Tenant Pare Mereana Tamihana causes house fire after lighting cigarette next to gas cylinder"},"content":{"rendered":"

First published on \"NZ<\/a><\/p>\n

By Brianna McIlraith, Open Justice<\/p>\n

\"No<\/p>\n

\nPare Mereana Tamihana lit a cigarette in the lounge where a 45kg LPG gas cylinder was being stored.
\nPhoto: 123rf.com\n<\/p>\n

Pare Mereana Tamihana could smell gas in her rental property.<\/p>\n

But despite the smell, she decided to light up a cigarette in the lounge where a 45kg LPG gas cylinder was being stored.<\/p>\n

The result was a devastating house fire that left the home uninhabitable and the landlord seeking compensation through the Tenancy Tribunal.<\/p>\n

The landlord, who has name suppression, provided photos and videos to the tribunal which showed extensive fire damage.<\/p>\n

“The premises were rendered uninhabitable and will require a full rebuild,” tribunal adjudicator Jacci Setefano said in a recently released decision.<\/p>\n

A police report provided to the tribunal confirmed that the fire occurred in the lounge where the gas cylinder was being stored and was related to the presence of gas and a cigarette.<\/p>\n

A fire investigator deemed the circumstances “suspicious”.<\/p>\n

“The 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 – a highly volatile and dangerous combination,” Setefano said.<\/p>\n

According to the Environmental Protection Authority, a typical portable domestic LPG cylinder holds 9kg and is the largest cylinder allowed inside a home.<\/p>\n

The 45kg cylinders are commonly used for fixed domestic LPG heating installations and should be kept outside.<\/p>\n

Tamihana was also not allowed to smoke inside and had said on her pre-tenancy agreement she was a non-smoker.<\/p>\n

“The tribunal finds this conduct to be more than carelessness.<\/p>\n

“The 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.”<\/p>\n

Despite the landlords having a valid insurance policy, they incurred an excess of $5000.<\/p>\n

“This is an actual, measurable loss arising directly from the tenant’s conduct.”<\/p>\n

Setefano said Tamihana was liable for the excess and ordered her to pay the landlord $5000.<\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First published on By Brianna McIlraith, Open Justice Pare Mereana Tamihana lit a cigarette in the lounge where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-318800","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318800","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=318800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}