Alyssah Moanaroa-Yates, 7, said she could smell the smoke in the shed.

A 7-year-old girl who saved her family from a fire said her mother frantically searched for her sister as the flames took hold.

Alyssah Moanaroa-Yates, was woken late at night by smoke and started screaming, alerting her parents to a fire that had been started by a free-standing wood burner.

"I could smell the smoke," Alyssah said. "My sister was in bed still sleeping and we didn't know where she was and mum got her and she started crying."

TONY WALL / FAIRFAX NZ Alyssah with her mother Serenity next to the woodburner where the fire started.

The family of five children and two adults were living in a converted shed on a rural property at Whakamarama near Tauranga.

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The shed was about 8 metres by 6m, but extra rooms had been added on and the seven were living there, chief fire officer Ian Blunt said.

SUNLIVE The freestanding fireplace was improperly installed and there were no smoke detectors in the converted shed where a family of seven were living.

Alyssah's mother, Serenity, said she was in an adjoining room with her partner and their 3-month-old daughter, Cha-Leigh.

"I was asleep with my newborn, my partner had just come and jumped in the bed, a few seconds later [Alyssah] just yelled. My partner yelled 'get out of the house'."

Her partner received second degree burns to his forearms trying to put out the fire, which started when cardboard around the woodburner caught alight.

The man was treated by ambulance and damage to the interior of the shed was relatively minor.

"I'm embarrassed about it," Serenity said.

"I had the same thing when I was little - I actually woke up to the smoke and woke up my dad, so it was a big flashback."

She said the family only moved into the garage two weeks ago. Her sister was renting the adjoining house with her family.

Serenity said they had been squeezed into a single room at her partner's mother's house before that.

"It's ridiculous, with the government paying millions of dollars for what, and there's homeless people."

She said she was a stay at home mum and her partner worked full-time. They were not eligible for a state house but couldn't afford market rents. The garage was $160 a week.

"I would prefer something better, but a it's roof over my kids' heads."

She said the fireplace would be removed and the power would have to be disconnected because the fire service said the wiring was faulty. "They were saying it's quite deadly."

They were now "cuddled up in my sister's lounge" and would move back into the garage when it was cleaned up as they had nowhere else to go. "Are we meant to sleep in our tent? The government needs a kick up the arse, they need to open their eyes to the reality of how other people are living."

She said she was just grateful that her family was OK, thanks to Alyssah.

"She was very proud, and so were we."

Ian Blunt, chief fire officer with the Omokoroa Volunteer Fire Brigade, said the woodburner, which was mounted on loose bricks, appeared not to have been legally installed.

"There were seven very lucky people there," Blunt said.

Fire investigator Jon Rewi said there were no fire safety systems in place at the house.

"The owner did produce a smoke alarm. It was still in its wrapping in a drawer. They don't work like that," he said.

"These people are so fortunate...if it was an hour later and that child had gone to sleep, we would have probably had a very grim outcome."

Rewi urged everyone to have working, 10-year photoelectric fire alarms and said the fire service would install some for the family involved in the Friday night fire.

From June 1 landlords will be responsible for making sure rented properties have working smoke alarms.

With winter approaching, Rewi said people should check heating devices and make sure fireplaces and chimneys are "cleaned by professionals".

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