A teenager who smashed his way out of a burning Hamilton house which claimed three lives yesterday says he yelled to friends before leaping from the second storey to escape the ferocious blaze.

Hamilton house fire victims

House destroyed by fire in Hamilton.

Seventeen-year-old Baylay Reid doesn't live at the property but had been staying there when he was woken by yelling and screaming.

Mourners gather near the site where three people lost their lives in a house fire yesterday. Source: 1 NEWS

He told ONE News that he had to smash a window to escape from the deadly fire.

Police are yet to confirm the identity of those who lost their lives in the fire, but hundreds of people have taken to social media to pay tribute to 19-year-old Jake Hayes and 17-year-old Connor Swetman.

Friends say that it was Jake's first night in the house and the party held before the fire broke out was to welcome him to the property.

Toni Maree Johnston is also presumed dead.

Forty five firefighters were called to the blaze in Collingwood Street yesterday morning.

Friends described Connor to ONE News as "cheeky" and "outgoing".

Samantha Krippner and Courtney Sarjeant say they spoke to Connor's family yesterday but they were devastated and too distraught to say much.