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A smoke alarm may have saved the life of an elderly man who was sleeping when fire broke out in his Mataura home this morning.
The fire started in the kitchen of an elderly couple's home in Mcillwraith Rd at the southern entrance to the township around 8am this morning.
Sergeant Eric Browne, of Gore police, said the man was asleep indoors and his wife was in the garden when the smoke alarm went off.
"The smoke alarm may have saved him. Always make sure your alarms are working," he said.
The man escaped uninjured.
FENZ southern shift manager Alex Norris said fire crews responded with two fire trucks from Mataura and one tanker from Gore.
Once the crews arrived they noticed the house was in flames and called in more resources from Gore, Edendale and Wyndham, he said
"It has been extinguished now and the crew is in the final stages.’’
A fire investigator attended the scene later, he said.
The fire was not being treated as suspicious at this stage.