Suspicious fire in farmhouse claims 4 lives

Press, 7 August 1976, Page 1

Suspicious fire in farmhouse claims 4 lives

PA Invercargill The Invercargill C. 1.8. is investigating a house fire in the Clinton district which claimed the lives of four persons yesterday, but the district head of the C. 1.8., Detective-Sergeant K. G. Schwass, said that at this stage it was too early to draw any conclusions.

The fire gutted the house—a big, old wooden farmhouse at Taumata—and only the charred remains of the four occupants were left. The dead, whose names have not been released, are believed to be a married couple and their two daughters. Senior-Sergeant Schwass said unusual circumstances surrounding the fire had provoked an investigation. These included the discovery of remains of a rifle near a body in a bedroom. However, because of the complete combustion of the house and its contents, it was too early to draw any conclusions, and inquiries were continuing. Detectives from Invercargill inspected the site of the fire with a fire investigation officer from Dunedin. An Invercargill pathologist was also called in to help with identification. Post-mortem examinations of the bodies will be made today. The house is set about a mile off the old Lake Road, several miles from Clinton,

and cannot be seen from the road, because of trees. The nearest neighbour is some distance away. It is thought that the fire happened about 6 a.m., but it was two hours later when the four-year-old son of a neighbour, Mr Murray Anderson, drew his father’s attention to smoke in the direction of the burnt house. The boy had earlier told his father that he had seen a fire during the night, but his father assumed this was only a dream. Mr Anderson went to investigate, and found the house was burnt to the ground. “It was just a heap of red-hot ashes,” he said. Mr Anderson was mystified at how the fire had not been seen. Mr Anderson called the chief fire officer at Clinton, Mr R. Crawford — his father-in-law — about 8.15 a.m. Mr Crawford and two other members of the brigade came out to investigate, but there was nothing they could do except dampen down the ashes. It was at this stage that the charred remains of the four occupants were found, and the police were called.