Dunedin fire crews were called out this afternoon to what was thought to be a house fire, but turned out to be an umu.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said the amount of smoke emanating from the Easther Cres house, in Kew, looked so "spectacular" that fire crews responding called for back up.
‘‘The closest responding truck could see the smoke in the distance and it looked rather impressive, so they made a second alarm which called for an additional two fire engines.
‘‘Four trucks were on the way, but when they got there it was just an umu,’’ the spokesman said.
When the first two trucks arrived at the scene about 3.30pm, firefighters believed the back of the house was on fire, he said.
When they discovered it was a cookout, the remaining two fire trucks were stood down, he said.
