Neighbours began to call 111 just after 8.30am after seeing smoke coming from the Test St, South Hill, house.
Neighbour Cindi Phillips said she noticed the smoke as she returned from retrieving her newspaper.
At that stage, smoke was seeping out of the roofing tiles and from under the eaves of her neighbour’s house.
"It was coming out of everywhere but the chimney."
She called 111 immediately.
She ran in through the gate of her neighbour’s house, picked up a newspaper lying on the footpath and used it to bang on the windows, she said.
"When I got around the back of the house, it was really hot. I could just feel the heat."
Oamaru Volunteer Fire Brigade senior firefighter Neil Gibson said two crews of two firefighters entered the building for an initial search.
"We arrived to a house logged with smoke and a small fire out the back ... in the back room, the kitchen room."
A neighbour said he watched as firefighters opened a window at the side of the house and smoke "billowed out".
The St John crew at the scene did not enter the building.
Fire investigator Mike Cahill yesterday referred comment to the police.
Police did not respond to a request for more information after a press release was issued at 10.43am yesterday.
In that statement, police confirmed a person died in the house fire. An investigation was under way, it said.
