Smoke billowing from the laundry of a Pyes Pa home alerted a home owner to a washing machine fire on Monday morning.

While the fire service didn't attend the call, they are using the situation as a timely reminder to check faulty equipment.

This Samsung washing machine caught fire on Monday morning.

The washing machine in question happened to be a Samsung model that had been subject to a product recall in May 2013.

A chance of moisture may penetrate the electrical connectors of the machines causing a spark and potential fire, says the product recall statement.

Tauranga fire risk management officer Bill Rackham says Monday's fire is a timely reminder for people to check their model numbers against those that have been recalled.

'From the information that the owners told me, it appears the wife has put on a load of washing before heading to work in the morning. At about 8.15am, smoke was seen coming from the laundry and he (the husband) actually put it out.

'He was very reluctant to ring 111 because he was more focused on putting the fire out.

He used a garden hose to put the fire out.”

'This guy had smoke alarms but I don't think they were working.”

This is the third washing machine fire involving Samsung washing machines that Bill knows of.

Bill says while on this occasion the man did a good job of putting the fire out, the fire service urges people to make sure everyone is out of danger and to contact 111 before attempting to put a fire out.

'Even if the fire is out, people need to ring 111 and get the fire service out to make sure the fire is truly out and there is no chance it can reignite itself.

'We became aware of it afterwards when he phone me in relation to the fact that he was aware that there was a recall notice on these machines but he had not had any luck in getting anything sorted.”

People who fear they may have an affected model can refer any enquiries to Samsung, productrework.senz@samsung.com, or to Energy Safety website – they're the authority that governs the safety of electrical appliances.

Recall information is also available on the New Zealand Fire Service website: www.fire.org.nz

Bill warns people who have had problems with electrical equipment to check the product recall list the on the NZ Fire Service website.

If people have problems with electrical equipment they should get it checked by an approved service person before using it again.

The model numbers affected by the recall include: SW75V9WIP/XSA, SW65V9WIP/XSA, SW80SPWIP/XSA, AND SW70SPWIP/XSA.