Boards have gone up on the windows of a Marton house after it was damaged in a fire caused by unattended cooking.

Marton fire chief Paul Hudson said the blaze destroyed half of the Grey St rental property, and damaged a car and boat after it broke out shortly before 2pm on Monday.

A woman who was inside the house at the time had to be treated for smoke inhalation.

Neighbour Dulcie Powell said her husband Ernest saw smoke billowing out of the house from where he sat in their lounge and called to her to phone the fire brigade.

They had been concerned for their own house which was close to the boundary line, but thankfully the wind was blowing in the other direction, Mrs Powell said.

The couple did not know their neighbours well but believed they moved in around October this year.

Mr Powell said when he spoke to the woman the morning after the fire, she had told him it was an accident. She had opened the kitchen door and the smoke just hit her.

The woman was at the property but did not wish to comment.

The fire was the second caused by unattended cooking in recent weeks.

A Bulls woman had to be restrained from re-entering her home late last month when a pan of hot fat caught fire as she was talking to a neighbour.

Her flat - one in a row of six - was almost entirely burnt out and she required medical treatment.

- © Fairfax NZ News