House fire after cooking left unattended

The fire service was called to the scene about 9.30 last night. Photo / File

A lakefront Queenstown home was damaged by fire yesterday, after its occupant took a phone call while cooking.

A young occupant of the three-level house on Frankton Rd had answered the phone while cooking last night, and gone outside, leaving food on the stove, Queenstown station officer Roydon Cullimore told Mountain Scene.

Mr Cullimore said the fire went up an extraction fan, burnt through a wall and began spreading throughout the rest of the home - which had three occupants, and no smoke alarms.

The fire service was called to the scene about 9.30 last night. It took the about five minutes to put out the fire, in which no one was injured, Mountain Scene reported.

Mr Cullimore said the occupants should have had smoke alarms, and should not have left cooking unattended.

"It's good they called it in when they did - probably another five minutes we'd probably be looking at a lot more damage to the whole house. She would have been fully involved."