A smoky fire in a McIntyre subdivision home Monday afternoon did a “significant amount of damage,” according to Whitehorse fire chief Kevin Lyslo.

At about 2:30 p.m., residents of the Hanna Crescent house noticed flames in a back bedroom and were able to escape and call the fire department. They were not injured.

Because of smoke, flames and water, though, the back half of the house has been “heavily impacted,” Lyslo said this morning at the scene, where the air still smelled strongly of smoke.

Some plastic soffits hung down from the roof, visibly melted.

Windows and doors were boarded up overnight and one crew member remained on scene so Lyslo and the fire marshal’s office could continue the investigation today.

The fire’s cause is still undetermined, Lyslo said. He was preparing to do a walk-through of the house this morning.

The fire moved quickly – after it started on the second floor, it travelled into the attic.

“Once it goes structural, they can move pretty quick,” Lyslo said. “You only usually have about four minutes to escape before you’ll be overcome by smoke .... If you’re not in a good spot to exit the home, you’ll be overcome very quickly.”

He said fire crews arrived on scene promptly and were able to extinguish the fire.

They usually have only six to eight minutes before the fire goes into “flashover stage,” a point at which the whole room is engulfed, he said.

“The whole room, whether it’s a chair or a couch or your Christmas tree or your bed, it all reaches the temperature where it ignites, and then your whole room, from floor to ceiling, is basically on fire.”

They were able to put out the blaze before it got to that point, Lyslo said.

He said the house fire was “fairly standard,” but the smoke billowed in an unusual way.

Typically, it moves upwards, but yesterday it hung low and thick over the house and street.

Lyslo parked up the street when he arrived on scene and walked toward the home. He couldn’t see the pumper truck, parked in front of the house, until he nearly walked it.

“It made it a little more difficult for doing size-up and getting set up because you’re working right in the middle of it,” he said. “It’s nasty.”

Smoke patterns can change depending on the time of day, wind and temperature, he said.

Lyslo said the home’s residents had been relocated by the Kwanlin Dun First Nation.

Calls to the First Nation were not returned this morning.