It is not known whether anyone was hurt and the extent of the damage to the home which is not situated far from Captains Flat Road.

Nearby resident Simone Cramp, who was driving into Queanbeyan when she saw the smoke, was first on the scene at about 11.30am.

“I called 000 straight away but I actually went up to the house as well because I knew [the owners] had young kids…I was yelling out but I couldn’t hear anyone,” she said.

“I used to be a nurse and I just wanted to make sure no one was in there. I could hear all the [smoke] alarms though so they obviously worked.”

While she didn’t panic, Mrs Cramp admitted she was shocked to see this type of fire in a rural setting.

“Living in the country you see your share of fires, but they are usually bush fires not house fires. I’ve never really seen anything like this.”

The blaze attracted half a dozen different emergency service vehicles to the property.

Two NSW Fire and Rescue pumpers and three Rural Fire Service tankers were used to control the fire.