Crews from the Roslyn, St Kilda, Dunedin and Lookout Point stations attended the garage fire in Gamma St, Belleknowes, just before 2pm yesterday.
A neighbour who reported the fire said he could immediately tell by the colour and amount of smoke "this wasn’t someone burning off some leaves".
"I came out on to my deck to go down and do some gardening, and the smoke was coming out."
The fire in the garage was raging and billowing up in the rafters when the firefighters got on to the scene, he said.
He said he was so grateful the firefighters got to the scene so fast, and jumped straight into action.
A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said the garage was attached to the home and was extensively damaged.
The home, however, was relatively unscathed.
On arrival, the fire was "well ablaze" and was brought under control within the hour.
