Danny Noonan's Christchurch neighbours initially thought he was "a crazy man" banging on their door, but now they think he's a hero.

Noonan, who is battling a rare form of cancer, saved 11 people and two cats from a suspicious fire that burned two properties in Macauley St, Addington, early on Saturday morning.

Elisha Abundo, 19, was "sound asleep" in the rental property he shared with eight members of his family when he was woken about 2am by a voice shouting "there's a fire".

ALDEN WILLIAMS/STUFF Addington couple Fiona McDonald, left, and Danny Noonan helped save 11 people and two cats from a fire that damaged two properties early on Saturday.

READ MORE: Christchurch house destroyed in 'suspicious' blaze

Peering outside his window, he saw a wall of flames.

"When I looked outside . . . our garage was on fire," he said. "I started to panic."

ALDEN WILLIAMS/STUFF Fire badly damaged part of the Abundo family's rented home in Addington.

Unaware of the fire, Eli Abundo, 16, a twin and one of seven Abundo children, was awake and "playing on the computer" when he heard someone banging on their front door.

It was Noonan, their "neighbour up the street". He was barefoot and wearing just his "gruds and dressing gown".

"I was thumping on their door for ages," Noonan said. "One of the kids told me later that they thought I was some crazy man knocking on their front door. At one point I was up a ladder running a garden hose onto the fire in the roof."

ALDEN WILLIAMS/STUFF It's cramped in the McDonald-Noonan home, but the Abundo family are just glad to have a roof over their heads.

He said his wife, English teacher Fiona McDonald, first raised the alarm.

"She was the one who smelt the smoke, if it had been me who woke up, I wouldn't have been able to smell a thing as I have lost my sense of smell," Noonan said.

Noonan has battled cancer in his optical nerve for 18 months and is recovering from major neurosurgery and radiation treatment.

Despite his low energy he got 11 people to safety, including nine members of the Abundo family, and their young neighbours. He went back into a burning property to help rescue two cats.

Eli Abundo said: "Our neighbour named Danny was knocking on our door and shouting 'house is on fire'."

"I was panicking and waking up all my brothers and sisters and dad and mum. We are seven children altogether, our youngest is eight and our eldest is 21."

GEORGE HEARD/STUFF A fire investigator says the fire is believed to be suspicious.

His father, Ely Abundo, said the family had lived in the rental property for a year and had insurance. He said he only had time to grab passports before fleeing the fire and described Noonan and McDonald as "our very kind neighbour".

"The fire consumed my vehicle and our garage, but all our children got out safely. I was in shock and I was trying to put water on the fire with a garden hose but it spread so fast and was so big. All I did [was] pray and hope for the arrival of the fire brigade. They came and they put away the fire and it was gone."

Ely Abundo was full of praise for the actions of Noonan and McDonald, who not only saved his family from the fire but also opened their home to them.

"Danny and Fiona offer us help to stay at their house . . . they are [such] kind and loving neighbours, they say we can stay here as long as we need to stay here. That is so precious to us."

Not many people would invite nine strangers to stay in their home but Noonan said he could not imagine not taking them in after their ordeal.

"It's not a scenario you expect to happen but you're not going to leave people sleeping in cars overnight," Noonan said. "That's not our society."

McDonald had helped the Filipino family find another rental property to move into this week.

Fire investigator Mark Thomas said the fire was not accidental and was being treated as suspicious.