UPDATE 1pm: A fire at a Maungatapu house has been extinguished.
Firefighters are still at the Te Hono St two-storey home monitoring for any hot spots and waiting for a fire risk management investigator to arrive on the scene.
Tauranga fire service Senior Station Officer Phil Price said fire crewsforced entry into the smoke logged house and found a fire in a second-storey bedroom.
On scene were three fire trucks, one each from Greerton, Tauranga and Mount Maunganui.
About 20 residents gathered in the street to watch the fire being put out.
