Fears that a child was unaccounted for in a house fire in South Auckland have proved unfounded.
Four fire crews, police and ambulance were at the scene on Olive Cres in Papatoetoe earlier this evening as firefighters responded to reports that a 10-year-old was missing in the fire.
The Fire Service has since confirmed there was no child in the burning building.
The shift manager said the building had been searched thoroughly and the child was not in it, however, it was still not known where the child is.
He said the fire has been extinguished.
Earlier, the Fire Service was alerted to the blaze in a sleepout joined to the garage of the property at about 5.20pm.
A Fire Service shift manager said they received notification of the fire at 5.19pm.
"There's a single garage and an adjoining sleepout on fire ... and at that stage they advised there was a 10-year-old child unaccounted for. That's all we have at the moment," he said.
Firefighters have been on the scene for about 30 minutes.
A woman who lived across the road from the blaze said the fire was "all out now".
"It's charcoal ... just smouldering," she said.
When she first noticed the fire it was "just smoke".
"We could feel the heat from our front door," she said.