Cowra Fire and Rescue say a pile of smouldering rubbish lit by a cigarette butt is the suspected cause of a house fire last Monday night.
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Firefighters, along with the RFS, police and ambulance attended the Thomas Street residence after neighbours spotted smoke bellowing out of the eaves at the front of the house.
Cowra Fire Captain, Chris Murray, said he suspects a cigarette butt had been dropped in some rubbish, causing a hole to be burnt into the floor of the dining area and the house to fill with smoke.
"There wasn't any flames, it was a lot of smoke, more or less smouldering," he said.
"It could have possibly been a cigarette butt that had been dropped in some rubbish that just sat there and smouldered.
"There's a large hole, probably a metre or so across in the dining area... Just looking at it... there were a few empty cans of some description on the ground underneath the hole and around the hole.
"[It's] gone up inside of the wall and we had to knock some of the paneling off to get to the framework.
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"The paneling, it was fibro so there's damage on the outside and there's damage on the inside.
"The neighbours said there was smoke coming out of the roof for an hour or so."
Mr Murray said the occupant of the house was not present at the time of the incident.
