Firefighters called to fire caused by unattended candle in Pukehangi

Firefighters were called to a fire caused by an unattended candle last night. Photo / File

Fire and Emergency New Zealand is driving home the message smoke alarms should always have batteries in them after a house fire in Pukehangi last night which "could have been a different story".

Rotorua firefighters were called to a house fire on Turquoise Pl in Pukehangi about 9.15pm on Friday.

Senior station officer Paul Glanville said the fire started in a bedroom and was caused by an unattended candle.

"The fire damage was confined to the bedroom but the house was very smoke logged.

"We're just lucky the family was still up and awake.

"There were smoke alarms in the house but neither had batteries in them so we'd really like to drive home that the outcome could have been very different if the family were asleep."

Glanville said it was important to ensure houses had smoke alarms and those had batteries.