Firefighters were called to the house at the corner of Jasmine and Shari Drive about 4.40am after three people returning home in a taxi saw the flames.

Ballarat Criminal Investigation Unit Detective Senior Constable Tony Euvrard said fire investigators were unable to determine how the fire started, but the cause had been ruled as not suspicious.

Nobody was home at the time of the fire but yesterday police were looking for the occupant of the home, which was believed to have been owned by UnitingCare.

"There is an undetermined cause of the fire," Det Sen Const Euvrard said.

"The signs are that it has started in the rear bedroom and spread."We will be making those inquiries (with the occupant) but there is no signs of it being deliberately lit."

Andrew Bennett, who lives two doors down from the property, said he initially awoke to the sound of his dog barking when the fire began.

"The dog was barking and carrying on and I went out to tell her off and ... there was a fire down the road," he said.

"The whole house was well lit with flames coming out the windows. They were coming out of the back section of the roof and were pretty high."

Ballarat CFA operations officer Alfred Mason said firefighters could not confirm until yesterday morning whether anyone had been in the house at the time of the fire because the floor was covered in roof tiles.

Mr Mason said it took firefighters from the Ballarat City and Sebastopol fire brigades about 20 minutes to bring the fire under control.