Three people had a lucky escape from a bedroom fire in central Dunedin yesterday morning, a fire safety officer said.
A tealight candle left on a bedside cabinet ignited bedding and then curtains, which in turn burnt the back of a female and the feet of a man sleeping in the room.
A third person in another room of the Russell St home suffered from smoke inhalation, and the trio were taken to Dunedin Hospital for minor injuries shortly after 3am.
"We are very lucky that we did not have three fatalities in that house," Southern Region fire safety officer Barry Gibson said.
The wax candle was sitting on the bedside cabinet, and "when they burn down will ignite anything they come in contact with".
"It is just foolish to think they are just going to look after themselves. If you are going to bed or leaving the room you should extinguish them."
Bedding tended to smoulder a long time before erupting in flames, which was potentially lethal, he said.
"They could have been asphyxiated before it got too much further. The fortunate part of this is one of the occupants woke up to the heat ... That is normally not the case."
There were no smoke alarms at the property, which was "incredibly frustrating", he said.
Despite extensive publicity, phone calls and visits from the fire service, people were still placing their lives at risk by using candles and not having working smoke alarms installed.
Mr Gibson said it was the second fire in three days involving candles; the other incident was not reported to the fire service as the residents were able to put it out themselves.
The Russell St residents declined to talk about the incident yesterday.
