The kitchen and dining areas of a Jonathan Street house were last night gutted by fire after tenants forgot about a pot of oil cooking on the stove.

Firefighters were called to the home about 6.30pm and arrived to find the kitchen well involved in flames.

The kitchen windows of the Jonathan Street home are boarded with plywood this morning following last night's fire.

Tauranga Senior Station Officer Len Sabin firefighters spent a couple of hours at the home, which had no working smoke alarms.

He says one of the occupants heated a pot of oil on the stove and forgot about it, realising the kitchen was on fire when they heard windows breaking.

'It was unfortunate to see that they had no working smoke alarms,” says Len. 'If they did they would have been alerted to it a lot sooner.

'The other message that we always try and get across to people is if you have got cooking on the stove, supervise it. Keep an eye on it.

Len says they are called to many cooking-related fires every year.

This morning the kitchen is gutted and there is significant damage to the dining area, says Len.

The only positive for the group of young occupants was their possessions were able to be recovered, he says.

In a separate incident Greerton firefighters were called to a Horsley Grove house at 5am today where residents discovered the gas on the hob had been left on all night.

Firefighters ventilated the building.