An assisted living home was engulfed in flames at Wynyard on Thursday morning.
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Emergency services responded to the blaze about 10am Thursday, and the Cape Country Accommodation unit was "well alight" on arrival.
Tasmania Police Acting Sergeant Travis van Tholen said it appeared the house, managed by St Vincent de Paul, had been completely destroyed in the fire.
"Upon arriving the house was alight and engulfed in flames, and firies have now extinguished the blaze," Acting Sergeant van Tholen said.
An elderly woman was evacuated from one of the units, he said, but she had been assessed on site by paramedics and did not require hospitalisation or further treatment.
Neighbour Mike Thompson was one of the first on the scene, alerting other neighbours to call triple zero while he grabbed a garden hose.
However he said that the house was so alight by that point, with flames billowing out of the now caved in ceiling, that his efforts were fruitless.
Fortunately, he said, the people on site acted quickly to evacuate the elderly woman from her home.
He said staff at the facility acted quickly and "dragged" the woman from the unit as the fire took hold.
"The people who work there just got hold of her and dragged her out, mattress and all," Mr Thompson said.
"They just got her out. Right at the time it really started to get going."
Acting Sergeant van Tholen said it was as yet unclear how or where in the home the blaze had started, but that an investigation was now underway.
He asked that anyone with any information contact Tasmania Police on 131 444.