A barbecue that reignited is believed to be the cause of a flat fire that sent the sound of "ripping tin" around a Napier street early on Friday morning.
Those inside the unit were awoken by a neighbour as the fire ripped through the Nash St property just before 2am and were out of the home by the time fire crews arrived.
Ross Augustine, a neighbour from around the corner of the two-unit flat on Nash St, said he was awoken to sounds "like someone ripping up tin" or someone crashing into a fence.
Augustine went out and saw firefighters putting out the large fire and told Hawke's Bay Today on Friday morning his clothes still smelled of the noxious smoke that filled the air.