''Every room was on fire...it was crazy''.
Those are the words an essential worker used to describe a house fire in Ngongotaha this morning.
The worker who asked not to be named said she spotted smoke billowing into the sky on her journey home following her shift.
She arrived two minutes before the fire brigade ''I'd say at least 70 to 80 per cent of the house was just completely on fire and engulfed in flames''.
''They weren't like really tall flames but basically every single room I could see was on fire.''
According to a neighbour luckily no one was at home at the time.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokeswoman said one fire crew was still on the scene along with fire investigators who were working to establish the cause of the blaze.
She said the full extent of the damage to the unoccupied house was not available at this time.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand communications shift manager Kaisey Cook said earlier multiple 111 were received about a large house fire at a Waitete Road property
The first report was at 7.20 am and when fire crews from Ngongotaha and Rotorua fire stations arrived at the address the house was "well-involved", she said.
Cook said there were no reports of any injuries and it was not known whether the occupants were home when the fire started or what had caused the fire.
The two fire crews were still on the scene, she said.
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