Elderly woman's house burns down near Albion Park

The Yellow Rock Ridge home was well alight as the first of an estimated dozen emergency services vehicles arrived about 3.30pm on Tuesday, June 11.

Senior Albion Park RFS crew member Dick Johnston said there were access challenges for responding crews, with the brick veneer home standing on a steep block, and recent extreme rain making the ground soft for heavy tankers.

"We can't afford to take a tanker off tar or concrete," he said. "The fire trucks have single road access. We've been pumping from one vehicle, then another, so there's a staging area on the road and when one is empty, another tanker will go up."

The home's occupant, 80, got herself out of the home but was later taken by ambulance to Shellharbour Hospital, according to NSW Ambulance.

Pictures from the scene show the home completely gutted, including two former garages that had been converted to living areas.

Several vehicles on the property were spared.

On social media, residents warned one another to keep roads through Albion Park clear as the emergency progressed.

Rachel Gardner saw some of the first plumes of smoke appear from a vantage point further along picturesque and normally sleepy Yellow Rock Road.

"I was feeding my horses, rugging them up when I noticed the flames," she said

"When it first started the smoke was really black, then it went white and it was getting more and more rapid. The smoke was getting more intense.

"There were five or six fire trucks, ambulance, police - rescue squads and every thing as well."

Crews wearing breathing apparatus remained at the property as night fell, mopping up hot spots.

Meantime, the woman remained at Shellharbour Hospital as at 7.30pm, in a stable condition.

Inquiries into the cause of the fire are continuing.