It was just 'get out, get out'. I think they said 'fire'. I did smell some smoke that's when I thought 's**t'.
As the fire raged men kicked down the door to a neighbouring property and got the people sleeping inside out. A fire wall prevented the worst of the fire from spreading but Kirsty McKenzie who was sleeping next door.
"It was just 'get out, get out'. I think they said 'fire'. I did smell some smoke that's when I thought 's**t'.
"I came out here and saw flames coming out of the roof."
Ms McKenzie said a couple of men using local hoses tried to help put out the fire until the fire service arrived.
Senior station officer Peter Rhinehard said when firefighters arrived there were already flames up to a couple of metres long licking out of the roof.
"The boys did a bloody good job actually."
Firefighters managed to get control of the blaze within about 30 minutes but did not leave the area until about 7.30am.
Mr Rewi said the cause of the fire was unknown. He was sifting through the charred remains yesterday.The building did not appear to have smoke alarms or a sprinkler system, he said.