Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Services is urging residents to get their evaporative air conditioning units serviced following a house fire in Alice Springs overnight.

Just before 1:30am Fire and Rescue crews received a report of a house fire in the Braitling area. The two occupants managed to evacuate the home and call 000.

Fire fighters fought the blaze, which had spread across the roof area and caused significant smoke and fire damage to the home.

Alice Springs Senior Fire Station Officer Paul Rubie said the occupants of the house had a lucky escape as there were no smoke alarms installed in the dwelling.

“It could have been a very different story had one of the occupants not woken up to the smell of smoke.

“There were no smoke alarms installed in the house and so it is very lucky these people managed to escape when they did."

Alice Springs fire crews have responded to three structure fires in the past seven days.

“It is a timely reminder to everyone to check they have working smoke alarms installed and these are clean and tested,” said Snr Station Officer Rubie

“It is not uncommon for NTFRS to attend fires that have been caused by air conditioners during summer.”

There are two types of modern air conditioning units – the evaporative ducted type units, commonly known as swampys, and the split system air conditioning units where the motor is mounted on the outside wall.

“Air conditioners are not unlike your car, they require servicing / maintenance to ensure they run well and they don’t put you at risk,” said Senior Station Officer Rubie

“The safest thing to do before switching your cooling unit on this summer is to get it serviced by a qualified air conditioning mechanic, this will be reduce the possibilities of your air conditioner causing a fire.”

“For your own peace of mind it would be suggested that a qualified tradesperson carry out an inspection and perform any repairs as required”.