About 20 firefighters battled a double garage fire in Blenheim last night where flames came perilously close to damaging a neighbouring house.
Three crews from Blenheim and one from Renwick volunteer fire brigades were called to a Burleigh Rd address last night just after 7pm following multiple 111 calls about a fire.
A woman and two young children living in the house were unharmed, but their garage was seriously damaged.
Blenheim Volunteer Fire Brigade senior station officer Ross Bailey was one of the first on the scene after seeing a "very visible glow" on his way to the station.
When he arrived at the scene, flames were "substantial" and there was "quite a good plume of smoke going up".
"We were greeted with a double garage that had flames coming out the roof and out the rear – it was well involved."
Mr Bailey said the fire began in the back of the garage, which was about 10 metres from the resident's house but only "metres" from the neighbouring property.
It was fortunate the fire did not spread to either the house on the property or the neighbour's, he said.
"Luckily there was no wind, so the flames were going straight up."
Furniture, household items and a wood pile in the garage were destroyed, but a car under repair escaped major damage.
The boundary fence was also destroyed.
Blenheim Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer Rob Dalton said about 20 firefighters battled the blaze, and an additional crew from Picton were on standby.
Mr Dalton said the "substantial" fire was under control within about 15 minutes but firefighters were there until 10pm dampening down hot spots and working on the investigation.
Jasmine Wilson, who lives three houses away from the fire, said she arrived home to find about 15 people standing on the street and "tons of firefighters".
Another witness said he saw "flames shooting higher than the house itself".
Mr Dalton declined to comment on the cause or whether the fire was suspicious, as an investigation was continuing.
He was unsure if the residents had insurance, but "he hoped so".
Last updated 13:00 03/05/2010
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