A woman has minor burns from a unit fire in East Tamworth

Fire crews were called to reports of a blaze about 10.30am on Friday, but due to miscommunication, arrived at the wrong address at 10:35am.

There was no sign of fire at the original address, a unit on Dowe Street in the CBD, provided by the communication centre.

The communication unit gave firies the number of the triple zero caller, and crews arrived to a unit on Dowell Avenue in East Tamworth, about 10 minutes later.

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A spokesperson for Fire and Rescue NSW said communications procedure is to check the address given with the caller before sending crews to the location, and in this case, the caller may have approved the incorrect address due to panic.

The young woman and her baby had safely evacuated the unit prior to the arrival of the fire brigade, and the young woman's mother arrived on the scene.

Crews entered the unit, which was blanketed in smoke, and found that a fire had occurred on the stove top.

Firefighters found the fire ignited due to a candle that had been placed on the stove top while the woman was cooking.

"You should always keep looking when you're cooking, because more than 50 per cent of home fires start in the kitchen," Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Tom Cooper said.

Flames extended into the range hood, but were extinguished by the occupant who turned the stove off, threw a wet towel on the stove which extinguished the fire, and rang triple zero, the spokesperson said.

Smoke alarms were operating in the premises when firefighters arrived.

The young woman's burns were checked by ambulance personnel and she was not transported to hospital.

Firefighters checked the remainder of the kitchen area, the cupboards and the range hood to make sure there was no fire penetration using a thermal imaging camera. The fire had not spread.

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