Fire in Maungatapu (+ video)

UPDATE 1pm: A fire at a Maungatapu house has been extinguished.

Firefighters are still at the Te Hono St two-storey home monitoring for any hot spots and waiting for a fire risk management investigator to arrive on the scene.

Tauranga fire service Senior Station Officer Phil Price said fire crews forced entry into the smoke logged house and found a fire in a second-storey bedroom.

On scene were three fire trucks, one each from Greerton, Tauranga and Mount Maunganui.

About 20 residents gathered in the street to watch the fire being put out.

EARLIER: Three fire engines are fighting a fire in Maungatapu this afternoon on the intersection of Te Wati St and Te Hono St.

A call was made to the fire service by a neighbouring resident after he saw smoke billowing from the two storey home.

The resident told a reporter on the scene that nobody was home in the house but the fire was possibly coming from a bedroom.