Fire destroyed a four bedroom home at Tuai in northern Hawke's Bay this morning.

The fire started when a gas heater in the lounge room burst into flames as it was being lit.

Firemen from Tuai and Wairoa responded to the emergency at about 9am.

Wairoa fire chief Grant Duley says the house was gutted in the blaze.

A woman and her teenage daughter were lucky to escape injury when they went to light the heater and it caught fire in their faces.

The family living in the house have lost everything they owned.