The Kootingal mother had popped back quickly to her Stephen Ave home yesterday about 11.40am to unpack some groceries when she and her daughter noticed smoke pouring into the air.

“I went out and turned the power off and by that time the neighbours had seen the smoke and called triple-0,” she told The Leader yesterday.

Frantic, they were helpless as the flames spread through the front bedroom of the brick-and-weatherboard home before firefighters raced to the scene.

“The crew from Tamworth wearing breathing apparatuses with a line of hose rapidly extinguished the fire and contained all fire damage to the front room,” Fire and Rescue station officer Mick Craig said.

“The crews observed volumes of smoke issuing from the front room and quickly got to work.”

Luckily, they managed to save the rest of the house, which sustained only smoke damage.

“Yes, we’re very, very lucky,” Mrs Stewart said.

“There is no structural damage, it’s only a room, it was my bedroom.

“I’m just grateful the firemen got here as quickly as they did and could put out the fire.”

An electrical fault has been blamed for sparking yesterday’s fire – something that shocked Mrs Stewart.

It’s one of a handful of fires which local firefighters have been called to in the past few days, prompting calls for residents to be vigilant.

On Sunday night, a fire in a kitchen of a Wongo Creek home near Manilla sparked an emergency.

It took crews two hours to clean up the blaze, which engulfed the kitchen and dining area just after 7.30pm.