North East Valley home badly damaged in blaze

A home in the Dunedin suburb of North East Valley has been badly damaged after an early morning fire.

A spokesperson for Fire and Emergency NZ, Daryl Ball, said crews were first alerted to the blaze in Beechworth St at 5.15am today.

The fire was "well involved" when crews arrived, and a total of four appliances were called to the scene.

Mr Ball said no one was in the property at the time and the cause of the fire is being investigated.