A three-year-old boy playing with matches is understood to have caused a fire that gutted a Lower Hutt house on Tuesday morning.
A family member who lived opposite the house in the suburb of Naenae alerted the Fire Service. Fire crews arrived shortly after 9.30am.
Senior station officer John Busby said the boy asked his mother for a towel and shortly afterwards she found it alight in another room.
None of the two children and two adults who lived in the house was injured.
Mr Busby said although the house was gutted, one room which had its door closed remained in extremely good condition.
He said it shows the importance of keeping doors closed, or, if possible, shutting doors behind you as you leave a burning building.
