Whitehorse firefighters were called to the Whistle Bend extended care facility Wednesday to assist with what platoon chief Dave Dowie is calling a minor incident.

Dowie said today that pallets of lighting and other electrical fixtures are being stored in the underground parkade – but somehow caught fire.

The source of the ignition is still under investigation, he told the Star.

Dowie said construction crews on the site extinguished the fire and pulled the pallets apart. There was slight damage to two or three of them, he said.

The platoon chief said the fire did cause a substantial amount of smoke to waft through the building, which is still under construction.

Firefighters assisted with clearing the smoke and walked through the facility to ensure nobody was left inside, he said.

Once the building was cleared of smoke, Dowie said, work crews were permitted back in.

The fire department was called at 12:39 p.m. and left the scene just over an hour later at 1:50 p.m.

Construction of the $150-million facility is scheduled for completion this spring.