If your house caught fire tonight, would you know what to do?

The Fire Service is concerned that New Zealanders are not planning ahead and looking at how they would escape from their homes if a blaze raged out of control.

There have been two fire-related deaths in the past week, and eight preventable fire deaths in total this year.

National advisor of fire risk prevention Todd O'Donoghue said now is the time to check for working smoke alarms - ideally photoelectric alarms - and discussing what you would do if you had a fire.

"If they have things like security stays on their windows, now's the time to talk about how they might break a window and escape that way if they had to, rather than trying to work that out as a fire happens."

O'Donoghue said a house fire can kill you in less than five minutes so you need to be prepared.

"That's why a working smoke alarm is really your only voice if there's a fire to warn you [and] give you time to get your escape plan into practice and get out safely," he said.