Six escape burning house

Three adults and three children escaped with only the clothes they were wearing after one of the children accidentally torched their rented home in the Greymouth suburb of Cobden this morning.

Tony Kemp, 29, said his flatmate's nine-year-old daughter apparently got up about 4.30am to cook chips.

The pot of fat caught fire on the stove and flames spread rapidly through the wooden, four-bedroom, Fitzgerald Street house, he said.

He heard a smoke alarm go off, but thought it was his friend's alarm clock and stayed in bed.

Then he heard footsteps and his friend yelling, "everyone get out of the house now".

Mr Kemp, his flatmate, aged 29, the man's daughter, twin sons, aged five, and ex-partner, escaped. By then the house was ablaze, Mr Kemp said.

As his flatmate began to panic about his missing staffordshire terrier, firefighters discovered it cowering under a bed in a back bedroom.

"My flatmate was absolutely rapt about that," Mr Kemp said.

His own dog had escaped with him.

His flatmate, a solo father on a domestic purposes benefit, was uninsured.

The kitchen, laundry, bathroom, toilet, hallway, lounge and two bedrooms were gutted by the fire, with two other bedrooms suffering severe smoke damage.

- NZPA