Firefighters remove roofing iron from a home in Stratford after it caught fire.

Firefighters were called to a house fire in Taranaki after a lawnmower caught fire and set the house alight.

Stratford chief fire officer Noel Webby said the wooden porch frames, which joined the garage with the Stratford house, caught fire about 1.30pm.

"He was starting up his lawn mower and a spark must have caught some petrol," Webby said.

"The timber caught fire and it moved to the house. The ceiling paper was on fire."

Witness Curtis Boyd said he saw black smoke at his neighbour's home and ran over to help.

"Yeah I heard the fire alarm go off and came running over and my sisters boyfriend got his car out."

"Dad came over with the garden hose and a ladder and put some of it out."

Firefighters removed roofing iron from the home to extinguish the flames.

No one was injured in the fire.