Firefighters braved entering a burning Invercargill home to search for a person thought to be trapped inside.
New Zealand Fire Service incident commander Duane Shannon said five crews were called to a house fire on Crinan St at 12.20am.
There were fears someone was still inside the house.
Despite fire spreading in the ceiling and the roof on the verge of collapse firefighters entered the home and looked for the missing person.
By this stage three rooms and an attached store room were burning fiercely but two rooms had not yet caught alight.
