Emergency services were called just before 4am on Sunday morning to the fire, at the corner of Loder and South streets.

When Fire and Rescue Quirindi firefighters arrived, the house was fully alight and, according to station captain Graham Batho, “we did the best we could under the circumstances”.

Five of their Fire and Rescue colleagues from Werris Creek, along with a Quirindi Rural Fire Service crew, helped in the incident.

“We don’t know how it started, but … we had a 13-hour blackout and that could have been a factor,” Captin Batho said.

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“The detectives from the police have been there and and the RFS sent a fire investigator up as well, but we haven’t heard of their findings yet.”

The occupants of the home – a father and two sons – were not home at the time, and a neighbour removed their pet dogs from the yard to safety.

Captain Batho said that, with people going on holidays, it was wise to turn off unused power points and appliances.

“If you get a power surge or anything when you’re not there, it just reduces that risk.”