A fire on Papamoa Beach Road is being described as a lucky escape for the occupants of the property who firefighters says didn't have working smoke alarms.

Mount Maunganui Fire Brigade was called to a fire in the house's oven about 11pm.

Mount Maunganui Fire Brigade was called to a kitchen fire in Papamoa overnight.

It took firefighters about 45 minutes to locate the fire, extinguish it and ventilate the house.

Mount Maunganui Fire Brigade senior station officer Nigel Liddicoat says the smoke would have been about a metre from the ceiling by the time the occupants were alerted to what was happening.

'They were very lucky it wasn't worse. They didn't have working smoke alarms in the house and the occupants called fire after they smelt something burning.

'The oven had heated up and the board it was sitting on had caught fire.”

Nigel says the occupants were lucky they called the fire brigade when they did.

'No one was injured.”