Major blaze in Caversham starts during firefighters’ strike

Emergency services have rushed to a fire which has ripped through a house in the Dunedin suburb of Caversham. The fire in Thomson St started during strike action by Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) staff, which meant volunteer brigades were sent to the blaze on Friday. [Missing Credit]The house was engulfed in flames. Photo: Gregor Richardson A neighbour said they called 111 after seeing the roof of the house on fire. "We came down and we saw the roof was black and it was only a little bit of smoke, so we went closer and we realised the roof was on fire. "Within the span of about 10 minutes, the fire started going through the house's windows, which burst.” [Missing Credit][object Object] It took 15 minutes from their call for the first fire truck to arrive and they were unaware if people lived in the house.