A fire which destroyed the lighthouse keeper's house at Cape Saunders at the weekend is being treated as suspicious.
A fisherman reported the fire at 7am yesterday, but by then the four-bedroom brick house was completely burnt out, Portobello police officer Senior Constable Lox Kellas said.
When firefighters arrived by four-wheel-drive vehicle shortly after the call, all that was left to do was to knock over a few unstable sections of wall.
Because the derelict house had not had any services connected for about 15 years, he had no option but to treat the fire as suspicious, Snr Const Kellas said.
The Dunedin City Council's environmental health unit had been notified because there was asbestos in the roof.
A fire safety officer will inspect the site today.
Representatives of the Korako Karetai Trust, which owned the house, had been meeting in Dunedin at the weekend, Snr Const Kellas said.
Ironically, one of the issues for discussion was what to do with the house.
Trust chairman elect Paul Karaitana, of Harington Point, said the site would be cleaned up.
The house was uninsured.
He declined to comment further.
Lookout Point fire station Senior Station Officer Keith Maydon said initial indications were a fire that gutted an empty Edinburgh St, Green Island, house, about 1am yesterday, was not suspicious.
The owners had been renovating the house.
A fire safety officer would inspect the site to confirm the cause of the fire.
