A Dunedin woman has told how an elderly neighbour's pleas from the doorway of his flat spurred her to rescue him as smoke billowed from the house.
Two people died in the early morning blaze in a flat in the back of the South Dunedin house, but the elderly man in the separate front flat was saved.
The Fire Service was called at 5.15am from a neighbouring property.
Authorities are calling for anyone who saw anything suspicious in the city's south to come forward. (Source: Other)
Neighbour Mel Ryall told 1 NEWS she was coming home from taking her husband to work when she saw smoke from the Wesley Street house.
'I thought 'oh that's the neighbour burning a drum in the backyard' which he does, has done before quite frequently. And I noticed it was in the roof.
"I got Dylan, my son, to ring the fire brigade. And I ran down the driveway. I could hear this little voice saying 'help, fire my kitchen'.
"He was talking about his walking frame and he needed assistance. I just said 'look, come with me. I'll take you, don't worry about that. We need to get out of the house'."
Fire and Emergency New Zealand were called to the fire just after 5am. (Source: Other)
Ms Ryall says the man was standing at his doorway, holding on to some things and "I just sort of grabbed him by his arm and said 'come on, let's get you moving'."
She says he got out of the house and she took him to safety before turning her attention to another nearby property.
"As I was knocking on the door all these flames just burst out the window and it just smashed, and got quite close to them."
Ms Ryall said: "You just sort of have this adrenaline just to help people and you don't want to see more lives lost."
She said there was no way she could have got around to the back of the flat to try and get people out as, "it was just too gone".
Ms Ryall said her family has had a few issues with the regular burning of rubbish in the backyard of the flat where the two people died.
"My husband's probably said a few words to them a couple of times about the drum burning."
She also said she heard arguments at that property at times.
The early morning fire ripped through the Wesley St home. (Source: Other)
Police are investigating the unexplained fire and are asking members of the public who may have witnessed or heard any suspicious activity to contact them.
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