Authorities are working to determine if anyone was inside a Dunedin house this morning that went up in flames.
One eyewitness described the house fire on Phillips St as an "an inferno".
Police and firefighters were called to the scene around 6.40am and several roads in the area remain closed.
Photos showed the property completely engulfed in flames, with large plumes of black smoke pouring from the house.
Fire crews are tackling the blaze on Phillips Street, which appears to have completely gutted the home. (Source: Jarrod Hodson). (Source: Supplied)
Eyewitness Dean Smith told 1News he was driving to work this morning when he saw a big plume of smoke.
"I probably got to the fire like a minute after it started, but this was an inferno, it was just fully ablaze, the fire [crew] had just got there and they just could not put it out.
"It's an old two or three storey home with an identical one beside it so it's just amazing to see."
He said crews managed to stop the fire spreading to the property next door but he could see "fire ripping up the walls of that house too".
Smith said it seemed like a difficult spot for crews to reach because the street is very narrow.
"I could feel the heat in my car from 300 to 400 metres away. It just ripped into it, it took three or four minutes for this house to be down, just gone."
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) incident controller Pete Douglas said firefighters with breathing apparatus were working their way through the inside of the house to make sure the fire was fully extinguised.
"There is no confirmation as yet whether anyone was in the property where the fire was first reported."
Douglas confirmed the fire had spread to two neighbouring properties. One of them only has minor exterior damage while the other has been "extensively damaged outside with some lesser damage inside".
The occupants of the neighbouring houses were all evacuated safely.
Douglas said firefighters will be at the scene for several hours. A police drone is being used to assist investigators.
Stuff reports the fire is at a well-known boarding house, which also caught alight on Good Friday last year, resulting in a man's death.
A neighbour told Stuff squatters had reportedly been sleeping in the house at various points. It also appeared the house was in the midst of being renovated.
South Rd remains closed between Princess St and Eglinton Rd. King Edward St, between Wain St and the railway overbridge, is also closed.
Police said motorists should avoid the area or expect delays.
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