A Te Puke couple living in Canada are still reeling after their close call with an arson attack on a garage next to their two storey home in Vancouver.

Shannon Henry, 19, and Jaden King, 20, were the first to call emergency services when they noticed the fire at about 11.30pm on Thursday or 6.30pm on Friday (NZ Time).

The flames from the garage fire were just a metre away from the Te Puke couple's Vancouver home.

Shannon Henry and Jaden King outside the destroyed garage.

Speaking to SunLive, Shannon's sister Jessica says Shannon and Jaden were concerned about getting out of the front door of their two storey house, as their only other escape route would have been the windows.

'The flames were about a metre from their front door. Their first thought was to grab their passports and get out outside.”

Jaden hosed down the roof to prevent the fire spreading until firefighters arrived and took over fighting the blaze which destroyed the single storey garage.

'We got a call from them late Friday night and they were both quite shaken up.”

Jessica says the couple are feeling tired now as they were up until about 2am doing interviews with police and the local news crew.

'They lived in Te Puke before leaving for Vancouver in May. They are there for one year before they return home.”

Police investigating the blaze say the garage fire is the latest in a series of arson attacks from Vancouver Island to Okanagan to Vancouver's south slope.

Constable Brian Montague is reported in CTV Vancouver News as saying they do tend to see more arson cases in the summer, with dry weather playing a big factor.

'Everything is dry. It's a little easier to light.”

Police believe the string of arson attacks are linked with other criminal offending in the area.