Firefighters battle Welcome Bay house blaze for four hours

A fire started in a Welcome Bay home on Sunday. Photo / George Novak

Firefighters spent about four hours at a house fire in Welcome Bay yesterday.

Welcome Bay residents reported seeing thick, black smoke coming from a home on Flinders Place just before 4.30pm.

A Northern Fire Communications spokesman said it received multiple calls from people in the area saying the house was "well-involved" in flames.

Two fire crews from Greerton and one from Tauranga were called to the scene.

The spokesman said the last fire truck left the scene about four hours later at 8.30pm.

All people inside the home were accounted for and it did not appear anyone was injured, the spokesman said.

"A fire safety investigator is returning this morning," he said.

An Auckland woman visiting her daughter at Flinders Place said she knew the resident was highly regarded by the people who lived on the street.

Damage to a Welcome Bay home after residents saw the property on fire yesterday. Photo / George Novak

"He'd come over with goodies at Christmas and Easter time... He is very well liked and very kind," she said. "Everyone is sad."

A neighbour, who wished to be known as Liesa, said the man who lived in the house was "the most amazing person".

"It's just tragic. I was in shock myself. I've never seen anything like this," she said.

Welcome Bay residents reported seeing smoke billowing from the roof of the home yesterday.

Firefighters spent four hours at the scene of a house fire in Welcome Bay yesterday. Photo / Supplied

"The house was "well-ablaze"," Alison Dunlop said. "[There were] huge plumes of smoke."

A resident nearby, who did not wish to be named, also reported seeing the fire.

"We heard sirens and looked out the window to see thick black smoke," she said.

Another resident said he could see flames licking around the home's back porch.