FIRE crews saved a person from a balcony during a fire in Queenstown on Saturday night.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said crews were called to a house fire in Fernhill a few minutes before midnight.
Crews discovered a well-involved house fire, the spokesman said.
Personnel from Frankton, Queenstown, Arrowtown, Alexandra and Cromwell attended.
A person was rescued from an upstairs balcony and taken into the care of St John, he said.
A witness said the house had been ‘‘gutted’’ by the blaze, but it had not collapsed.
He said neighbours had appeared concerned there was a person still in the two-storey house and had been hunting for a ladder.
He believed the person who was rescued was an elderly man who spent some time talking to police.
All other occupants were accounted for earlier.
At the time of the fire the temperature was -2degC and the street was covered in a couple of centimetres of snow and ice, he said.
Large amounts of water were used to fight the fire and six firefighters entered the building to battle the blaze.
The fire was not being considered suspicious and a fire investigator was at the scene yesterday morning to determine the cause.
A St John spokeswoman said no injuries were sustained by the person rescued.
— Additional reporting The New Zealand Herald
