Devastated residents could only watch helplessly as fire completely engulfed the Honeysuckle Street house at about 12.30pm.

Fire and Rescue NSW Inspector Scott Dodson said investigations were continuing into what started the fire, but confirmed the boy was the only person inside at the time.

“Upon arrival they found a house extremely well alight,” he said.

“One child, about 10 years old, self evacuated.

“He had a dog with him and we had reports of cats still inside the house, they’re still unaccounted for.”

No one was injured from the fire.

A next-door neighbour called triple zero when he saw the fire take hold.

“I saw smoke coming out of the roof,” he told the The Border Mail.

“I ran out of the house and saw flames coming out of the windows … It was pretty well engulfed in flames.”

He checked to see if the young boy was OK and asked if anyone else was inside.

Firefighters quickly arrived on scene and assured him his house was safe from the fire.

Smoke could be seen billowing out of the roof from across the Albury area.

Four pumpers and a duty commander from Albury Central and Albury North fire brigades attended and spent about three hours getting the fire fully extinguished.

It spread to one of the neighbouring properties before firefighters had the blaze under control, but Inspector Dodson said there was only superficial, not structure, damage to the second home.

The gutted house had about $300,000 worth of damage.

“The house is a write off and two vehicles appear to be damaged as well,” Inspector Dodson said.

“We’re lucky the winds were favourable that it didn’t push the fire onto other properties.”

He said while November was usually a common time for grassfires, house fires could happen at any time.

Some streets in the residential area were blocked off with firefighting vehicles throughout the afternoon during the long process of making sure the fire was completely out.

Albury police officers were on the scene to help the RFS with investigations and will prepare a report.