The family lost everything in the fire - and were not insured.

A basement burnout had tragic consequences for a father and son, after a car tyre exploded and caused their house to burn down, clocking up damage worth $155,000.

Drunk and keen to have a bit of fun in November last year, teenager Hamish Iain Grant asked his dad if he could use his car to do a burnout.

Minutes later, the Brixham Pl home in New Plymouth was engulfed in flames. While Grant and his father escaped the blaze with their lives, they lost all their possessions.

On Monday, Grant appeared in the New Plymouth District Court to be sentenced on a charge of intentional damage. He previously pleaded guilty.

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The court heard that on November 18 last year Grant had been at the home, which his father rented from Housing New Zealand (HNZ), drinking with friends.

After talking with his father about the burnout idea about 8.45pm, the 18-year-old went down to the basement and cleared enough space to complete the manoeuvre.

Grant then poured water on the concrete floor and got into the driver's seat.

But during the burnout, a rear tyre on the car exploded.

The teen had trouble breathing because of the amount of smoke caused by the explosion. When he got out of the car, he saw it was on fire.

He tried to use a neighbour's garden hose on the flames, but by the time the emergency services turned up, the Merrilands home was fully alight.

Firefighters spent about three hours at the scene, although it only took about 20 minutes to put the blaze out.

The quick actions of neighbour Vincent Murdoch also helped two people in the house get out of harm's way, after he watched the fire take hold from the street.

"The tyres exploded and the metal hit the concrete, igniting the house," Murdoch said on the night of the fire.

"I knew two people were inside and I went in to get them," he said.

No-one was injured in the fire.

Lawyer Susan Hurley told the court Grant, who was a first offender, had been staying with his father at the property.

She said he had never imagined his antics would have such a devastating impact.

"The fire took hold almost immediately," she said.

"It was engulfed in flames in minutes."

Although everyone managed to get out of the house safely, the property and everything else inside were lost.

The total damage was calculated to be $155,055.

Hurley said Grant was extremely upset about the impact the fire had especially had on his father, who also had years' worth of scout memorabilia he had collected destroyed. The family were not insured.

Judge Chris Sygrove described the case as "rather extraordinary."

Sygrove said as a result of Grant's "foolish" choice to do a burnout in such a confined space, the tyre exploded which sparked the blaze.

"You tried to put the flames out using the next door neighbour's garden hose to no effect," Sygrove said.

However, Sygrove accepted there had been no intent on Grant's behalf to burn the house down.

"It was just a dreadful accident that happened as a result of your foolish behaviour," the judge said.

As a penalty, Sygrove ordered Grant to complete 150 hours of community work.

As the teen had no job or any form of income, no order was made for the loss incurred by the fire.

"There is no way you can possibly pay that without any means," Sygrove said.