A Balclutha woman is grateful her two cats and turtle are still alive after the house she was living in caught fire.

Tossie Liebenberg says she was on her way back to Balclutha from Milton when her daughter told her about the fire at home.

Residents gathered to watch as smoke streamed from the roof of the two-storey brick house on Barr Street.

Two fire appliances from the Balclutha Volunteer Fire Brigade attended the blaze.