"The firefighters were hosing down my house because of the wind was quite strong and we were worried it might come across," he said.
"Huge chunks of ash and charcoal had been coming over."
Another neighbour, Lorraine Carmichael, had to rush home.
"My husband called me and told me to get home.
"We have a large bird aviary at the back of our house and we were quite worried about them," Mrs Carmichael said.
"I was feeding the birds this morning and I remember smelling some smoke but it was more of a toxic smell, like someone was burning a plastic bottle and went back inside and didn't give it a second thought.
"I didn't see anything at the time though."
Fire safety investigator Stuart Bootten said they were still trying to piece together what happened.
"We're trying to work out why there is so much damage when someone was home" he said. "We believe it started at the end of the house, the dining-kitchen area but are still investigating what the cause was."
Mr Bootten said from what they understood, two people were in the house when the fire started.
"The female occupant was getting ready for an appointment and a family relative was waiting to take her there," he said.
"She saw the smoke, came out and the house was on fire."
"All the rooms are all heat- and smoke-damaged, it's going to be a pull down."
Within hours of the fire, the woman's neighbours had posted on the Rotorua Daily Post Facebook page suggesting a collection of household goods be started for the family.
One said she had already arranged for two beds to be donated along with blankets, pillow
cases, sheets and children's clothes.
