Firefighters were called to a house fire in Wickham Road, Hampton East, just before 6.30pm.

Although they arrived within four minutes, they found the single-storey brick dwelling engulfed in flames.

A man in his 80s had made his own way out of the house and was suffering superficial facial burns.

He was taken to The Alfred hospital suffering possible burnt airways from smoke inhalation.

It took 25 firefighters 44 minutes to bring the blaze under control due to a high fire load inside the house.

MFB spokesman David Rankine said even as a person was reporting the blaze to Triple-0, the house went up in flames.

"The second caller who rang said they could see flames and while they were still on the phone they said it was fully involved," he said.

Due to the fire's ferocity, the roof of the house collapsed and an aerial appliance was used to douse the flames.

Crews were expected to remain at the scene well into the night, possibly even overnight, to ensure the fire was totally extinguished.

It is unclear whether there was a working smoke alarm in the house.

Mr Rankine said the blaze served as a timely reminder for people to ensure their smoke alarm batteries were working.

Fire investigators are yet to determine the cause of the blaze and will return on Sunday morning.