Check smoke alarms

People are being encouraged to maintain their smoke alarms after one Rotorua family was lucky to escape from its burning home.

Fire crews spent up to three hours attending a blaze on Aquarius Dr in Kawaha Point just before 2am on Tuesday.

Rotorua fire safety investigator Stuart Booten said he believed the fire started from an electrical fault in the kitchen.

He said the occupants, three adults and an infant, were taken to Rotorua Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation and were later discharged.

"There was a smoke alarm but unfortunately the batteries had ran flat and had not been replaced," Mr Booten said.

"They are lucky people to have woken up before severe smoke inhalation happened."

The rental property was extensively damaged.

"The fire service is working closely with rental property owners to try and maintain smoke alarms.

"It's a continuous message and we certainly encourage owners to do so, alarm and protect the property."

Nationally, the fire service attend more than 3500 house fires each year.

In 80 per cent of the fatal fires they attend, smoke alarms were either not installed or not working.