University of Otago student Robby McPhail (19) was forced to jump from a second-storey window, breaking his ankle, to escape a Castle St flat fire about 6.30am.
He had surgery in Dunedin Hospital to repair his hands after they were burned and lacerated during his excape from the fire at 660 Castle St, a former flat of band Six60.
The University of Otago had been offering support to the students and families affected by the blaze.
Vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne said Campus Watch staff would be visiting flats this week to reiterate the "importance'' of having working smoke alarms installed.
East Otago area fire commander Laurence Voight said new smoke alarms installed by the landlord were found in cupboards in the flat.
"Smoke alarms can't do their job if they're not on the wall to do it.
"Taking them down is an act of stupidity,'' Mr Voight said.
"This is a lesson to anyone else who's made a short-sighted decision to take theirs down.
"Working smoke alarms would have given them more warning and more time to escape,'' Mr Voight said.
Mr McPhail was woken by the noise of his flatmates escaping the fire downstairs.
He smashed the window of his bedroom - damaging a tendon and suffering smoke inhalation in the process - and jumped to safety, breaking his left ankle.
Mr McPhail's father, Peter, of Auckland, was in Dunedin at the time and attended a super rugby game with his son and several other fathers and sons on Friday night.
"If he hadn't jumped out the window, he wouldn't be here today,'' Peter McPhail said.
Robby McPhail was awake and in "good spirits'' after being under anesthetic all night, Mr McPhail sen said.
"He's got superficial burns on both hands, which is better than we had originally thought.''
His mother arrived from Auckland yesterday and would be at her son's bedside until the end of the week.
He would then go back to Auckland to continue his recovery, Mr McPhail sen said.
The family expressed their gratitude to the staff at Dunedin Hospital and the University of Otago for their support since the fire.
Meanwhile, police had put security in place to guard the flat, which was the subject of attempted looting on Saturday night.
A 25-year-old man was arrested and charged with burglary after being found inside the house.
The Allied Security guard, who did not want to be named, said he was there to stop "looting'' after "a man was caught'' allegedly trying to steal a TV from the flat.
The man would appear in the Dunedin District Court on Friday.
Fire investigators and police were continuing investigations yesterday but the cause of the fire would not be known for "weeks'', specialist fire investigator Mike Harrison, of Dunedin, said.
"The occupants are extremely lucky. We could have had a fatal fire here ... multiple fatalities.
"If they hadn't woken up to it, it would have been a disaster.''
Mr Harrison had a simple message for people: "Make sure you've got smoke alarms. Make sure they work.''
Flames could be seen spewing from the front door as a thick cloud of smoke engulfed the area on Saturday.
Two other residents were taken to hospital with minor injuries including smoke inhalation, cuts and bruises.
One flatmate, Oliver Thode, was staying across the road when the fire started.
"I'm just a bit shocked. How do you feel after a fire?'' he said.
He suspected the blaze may have been started by a switchboard in the house.
A woman who lived down the road from the house said she was woken by panicked shouting in the street.
"My flatmate heard them shouting ‘help, help'.''
The woman said her flatmate called 111 and the whole flat went to see what was happening.
"There was a big flame coming out the front door, there was smoke everywhere,'' she said.
"We ran out on to the street and the boys from 660 were standing outside the house smashing the glass and shouting someone's name like they thought someone was in there, or something.''
Firefighters were sent to the scene from Willowbank after multiple calls were received.
The fire was quickly brought under control.
Six60 tweeted: "This looks bad. Hope everyone is doing OK. Send us any info.''
Both Six60 and Castle St hit headlines in March when a balcony collapsed during the band's annual gig, injuring 18 people.
