A coroner says clear instructions about the safe use of a woodburner, may have avoided the death of a tourist on the South Island's West Coast

46-year-old Chinese woman, Jirong Wang , died when a rented house bus went up in flames at Blue Spur, near Hokitika, last year.

Her husband escaped.

Coroner Heather McKenzie says the couple left the door of a woodburner open, to better-heat the space.

She says they may not have done that, and avoided the fatal fire, if there had been clear instructions on how to use it safely.