• A Chinese tourist died in a house bus fire near Hokitika after inhaling smoke. 
• Coroner Heather McKenzie recommended clear instructions for using wood burners in rental accommodations. 
• The fire was deemed accidental, caused by the incorrect operation of the wood burner. 

A Chinese tourist died after inhaling smoke in a fire that tore through a house bus she and her husband were renting because it was likely that she was unable to find her way out. 

Jirong Wang may have been overcome by smoke either before she woke up or before she could find a way out, a coroner has found. 

The 46-year-old was visiting New Zealand with her husband Jian Yong An but died in the fire near Hokitika in February last year. 

Now, the coroner has recommended that accommodation providers whose premises include heating by way of a wood burner have clear instructions on use, including not to leave the door open when unattended. 

“Had Mr An and Ms Wang known not to leave the door open, they might not have done so and the fire might not have started in the bus,” Coroner Heather McKenzie said in her findings released today. 

Police at the scene of the fatal house bus fire on Blue Spur Rd, near Hokitika, in February last year. Photo / George Heard 

Airbnb owner Reilly Enstrom told NZME the tragic incident had deeply shaken him and his wife, and it remained on their minds daily. 

“We fully support the coroner’s recommendations and urge all providers to prioritise fire safety education,” Enstrom said. 

The Chinese couple arrived in New Zealand on January 31, 2024. They travelled the North Island before heading to Queenstown and drove from there to Hokitika. 

They arrived about 9.30pm on February 19 and went to their pre-booked Airbnb accommodation, which was a house bus on a property on Blue Spur Rd, near Hokitika. 

The house bus was about 120m from the owner’s house, where there was also a caravan that people could rent via Airbnb. 

There were two fireplaces in the 2.2m wide and 8.7m long house bus; one was on the deck and the other in the bus. 

The wood burner inside the house bus was not designed to have its door left open. It had a glass door and sat on a hearth of corrugated iron. 

There was a fire extinguisher on the left of the bus door and another on the deck. There were two smoke alarms and a carbon monoxide alarm, but no instructions on how to use the fireplaces, the coroner said. 

However, a guest who had stayed just days earlier told police he thought there were good instructions about the facilities and emergency exits. 

According to the findings, Wang’s husband An lit a fire using matches and brick fire starters. 

The coroner said he was inexperienced with operating free-standing fireplaces because they were not allowed in Chinese cities. 

An left the door open while the fire was going because it was warmer than if the door was closed and easier to put in firewood. 

They stacked wood around the fireplace, but decided this was dangerous, so they put it in front of the fireplace, Coroner McKenzie said. 

Before going to sleep, An put more wood on the fire and at some stage during the night he added more again. 

He told the police that “straight away it was a good fire, and we were happy”. 

An went to bed on the sofa while Wang was in the bed at the back of the bus. 

About 4am, on February 20, An woke up in pain, telling police he felt as if something was biting him. He then heard a noise that he described as like a “bomb” and a “big bang”. 

He escaped from the bus and saw the fire but could not find his wife. 

An sought help from the nearby house. A fire extinguisher was used, but the heat was too strong to make any progress. A couple staying in the caravan on the property saw what was happening and the police and fire services soon arrived. 

Wang was found dead inside the bus, on top of a pile of wood that had been stacked up in the hallway area in front of the fireplace, and which took up the width of the hallway in front of the fireplace. 

The coroner said Wang might have had increased difficulty in escaping because of prior injuries. About 10 days earlier, she had fallen off a ladder on a farm, and while in Bluff, she had injured her tailbone walking on rocks. 

Fire and Emergency New Zealand investigated the fire and found it was accidental. 

Because the fireplace was being operated incorrectly, it was able to ignite the first available fuel source outside the fireplace by either preheating or ember transfer. 

The Westland District Council said there were no regulations that it or any other agency enforced regarding the rental accommodations. 

The local authority also said buses were deemed to be vehicles and not buildings and were therefore not administered by the WDC. 

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.