Fire has completely destroyed a unit in Ocean St, Dudley

Residents ran for their safety after an “intense” blaze broke out at a Lake Macquarie unit on Tuesday morning.

Residents living at a Lake Macquarie unit complex were forced to run to safety after an “intense” blaze broke out at a neighbouring property on Tuesday morning.

Resident Sharon yelled “get out, get out, fire,” to alert her fellow neighbours as the Ocean St unit at Dudley went up in flames at around 8:30am.

Eight Fire and Rescue NSW crews rushed to the scene. Firefighters has to battle flames “coming from every window” and smoke billowing from the property.

Fire crews at the unit fire in Dudley. Picture: Amy Ziniak

Firefighters gaining access to the smouldering unit at Dudley. Pic: Amy Ziniak

One resident, told The Newcastle News she ran out in her dressing gown and had smelled “something funny and burning” before she heard the screams from her neighbour to evacuate.

Luckily there was noone home at the time.

“There was reports of a person trapped but we have confirmed that wasn’t the case,” Tingira Heights Station Commander Rod Sly said.

“The occupant has been notified and he is some distance away.

“We evacuated everyone around the proximity of the fire.”

Unit fire on Ocean St, Dudley. Fire and Rescue NSW will investigate the cause. Picture: Amy Ziniak

Firefighters were able to put the blaze out quickly but the home was still smouldering an hour later, as crews tried to get access to the building, for the mop up to commence.

“The ceiling has collapsed and there is quite a large amount of debris on the floors,” Mr Sly said.

“It’s completely destroyed, it was very intense, large volumes of smoke were seen kilometres away.

The unit was completely destroyed. Pic: Amy Ziniak

“The floors have given way, it’s a very difficult job for the firefighters but to their credit, they were able to prevent the fire from spreading to the adjacent building.”

NSW Fire and Rescue will investigate the blaze, to determine the cause.

“At this stage we can’t confirm if it was anything suspicious,” he said.

“We’ll have our fire investigation unit and police will investigate.”

The sudden fire a stark reminder about having working smoke alarms.

“We can’t stress enough about smoke alarms, had someone been in there, the smoke alarm would have notified them and they could have removed themselves from the building,” Mr Sly explained.