Fatal Meremere fire
27 July 2008
Witnesses and local residents of a small northern Waikato community are said to be devastated over news of a fatal fire
in their village earlier today.
The fire, at a home in Meremere, claimed the life of a 38-year-old local man and seriously injured his 12-year-old
daughter.
The daughter was taken by ambulance to Auckland's Middlemoore Hospital, not Waikato Hospital as earlier reported.
The pair were amongst four occupants inside the home when the fire broke out shortly before 3am.
Sergeant Juliet Burgess of Huntly Police said the man's name and the cause of the fire had not yet been released.
"Police and Fire investigators are still at the scene trying to establish the cause but there has been nothing to
indicate it was a suspicious fire.
"Locals are devastated about what has happened but are starting to rally around now," she said.
End