Two people have been treated for severe smoke inhalation after they were pulled from a large house fire in Bluff overnight.
Firefighters were called to the blaze on Barrow St about 12.05am, Fire Service southern communications shift manager Andrew Norris said.
The house was found to be well alight and a third pump was called in from Invercargill, about 25km away.
"Shortly after arrival it was determined that there were people probably still in the property, and subsequently two people were located and pulled out of the dwelling,'' Mr Norris said.
The occupants suffered severe smoke inhalation and were taken to hospital.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze within 40 minutes.
A fire safety officer was investigating.
The blaze was one of three house fires in the South Island overnight that are being investigated.
A fire at a derelict house in Nelson is believed to have been deliberately lit.
Firefighters were called to the blaze on St Vincent St about 4.23am.
The house was extensively damaged but nobody was in it at the time.
A police guard was stationed at the property overnight.
Fire safety officers and police would investigate this morning.
The earliest fire started in the roof of a house in Kaikoura.
Mr Norris said the fire "wasn't much of a job at all'' and nobody was injured.
