Kavinda Herath/Stuff

"We've lost everything except the clothes off our backs."

Little remained of the Craig family home when they were searching through the ashes to find belongings that had survived the blaze.

On Tuesday morning, Hamish Craig and his father were sifting through the ashes for a tie pin that had been in the family for 150 years.

Several fire crews, including a tanker from Otautau, were called to the house fire in rural Invercargill at 7.19pm on Monday.

The blaze was contained by 8.30pm, but firefighters remained at the scene for some time.

Hamish said his wife Jamie called emergency services after she returned home from the supermarket to find smoke coming from the house.

Hamish and his sons Jack, 11, and Dan, 8, were at Splash Palace when their home on Steel Rd caught fire.

While they had lost all of their belongings and their home, Hamish said the important thing was that his family were OK.

If the fire had happened in the middle of the night, it could have been a totally different story, he said.

"We've lost everything except the clothes off our backs."

Thanks to family, friends and neighbours they had a roof over their heads and something to eat, he said.

The family was in the process of dealing with insurers and sorting out new belongings.

The fire investigator, who had been at the home on Tuesday morning, had told Hamish the cause of the fire at this stage was undetermined but it was likely an electrical fault, Hamish said.

The fire was believed to have started in the kitchen or laundry area, he said.

Hamish's advice to others was for people to check their smoke alarms were working.

He asked that if anybody in the community had pictures of their sons, they would welcome them because they lost all of their photographs in the fire.

 - Stuff