Mother and children escape house fire in Dunedin; person flees house fire in Edgecumbe

Fire and Emergency New Zealand said the house was extensively damaged.

A family of four have escaped a house fire in Dunedin overnight, while another person escaped a house fire in Edgecumbe.

Emergency crews were called to a property on Richardson St, in Dunedin's St Kilda, about 2.30am.

Authorities said a mother and three children escaped without injuries.

However, Fire and Emergency New Zealand said the house was extensively damaged and had left the family with nothing but the pyjamas they were wearing when the fire broke out.

It is understood the family is getting help from Victim Support.

Fire authorities said the blaze is not being treated as suspicious, but the cause is still yet to be confirmed.

About an hour later a person also escaped a house fire in Edgecumbe in the Bay of Plenty.

The fire service was called about 3.40am to reports of a Kowhai Ave house on fire with a person still inside, Fire and Emergency NZ northern shift manager Paul Radden said.

The house was well ablaze when firefighters arrived but the person had escaped, he said.

Two crews from Edgecumbe spent two hours putting out the fire. A fire investigator was arriving at the scene around dawn to work out what caused the fire, Radden said.