'Someone’s having the worst day of their life'

The owners of a St Leonards house could only watch from the street as their home was engulfed in flames yesterday afternoon.

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said fire crews from across Dunedin battled the "well ablaze" house fire in St Leonards.

Five fire appliances, crews from Ravensbourne, Port Chalmers, Dunedin and St Kilda were called to the Hawk Lane address about 3pm.

By 4.45pm, the fire was extinguished and crews were working to dampen hotspots, the spokesman said.

The cause of the fire was not yet known and a fire investigator was at the scene.

Huge plumes of smoke were seen across the city yesterday as a West Harbour villa burned. The photograph was taken using a long lens from Otago Peninsula. PHOTO: PAUL LE COMTE

"I immediately just thought, ‘Oh no, someone’s going to be having the worst day of their life’."

She was initially worried the fire was her own home, but quickly realised it was not when she got to the end of Huia St, which was

closed while firefighters fought the blaze.

Another resident on her way home was also anxious it might have been her home after she saw smoke billowing across Otago Harbour.

Port Chalmers volunteer firefighters Jon Visser (kneeling) and Hayden Smith gulp down water after fighting a house fire at a Hawk Lane property in St Leonards yesterday. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON

She would not be surprised if the home was a "total loss", she said.

A Hato Hone St John spokesman said

one person was assessed and treated at the scene.