A house has been badly damaged by an early morning blaze in Southland, despite the efforts of five fire crews.
Firefighters were called to the property in Swalwell St, Waikaia, at 2.48am today.
Crews including volunteers from Waikaia attended.
They remained at the scene for nearly eight hours, and a fire investigator checked later this morning for the cause of the blaze.
The fire has been referred to police as potentially suspicious, but details of the outcome were not immediately available.
