One dead in Christchurch house fire

One person is dead after a house fire in the Christchurch suburb of Hornby this afternoon.

Emergency services were notified of the blaze on Dickson Cres at 12.53pm.

Crews from the Wigram, Spreydon, Redwood and Ilam stations were called to the scene.

A police spokesperson said: "Tragically a resident of the house was found deceased inside the house.

"Cordons are in place on Dickson Crescent while emergency services continue work to extinguish the fire and then conduct a scene examination."

The fire has badly damaged part of the house.

Hato Hone St John sent an ambulance and operations manager to the scene.

“One patient in a minor condition was assessed and treated at the scene,” a spokesperson said.

Diane Cox, who lives down the street, told The Press she heard “glass breaking” and thought it was something breaking next door before finding out there had been a fire.

Another neighbour told The Press he thought an elderly woman lived at the house where the fire happened.

He was driving down the street when he saw “black smoke”.

“It is scary, initially thought it was my house.”

Omar, who lives two houses down, said it was a big fire and there were a lot of flames. He saw people shouting on their street during the blaze.