Whitehorse firefighters were called across the Yukon River at 3:28 Wednesday afternoon to a "fully involved” structure fire on Wickstrom Road, fire chief Clive Sparks said today.

Eight crew members had to unroll more than 75 metres of hose to reach the flaming shed, Sparks said, because snow prevented the trucks from getting closer to the blaze.

"They had it knocked down fairly quickly, within a few minutes once they had the hose in there,” the chief said.

"They were all back by 5:30.”

The fire was caused by a malfunctioning space heater, Sparks said, and caused approximately $11,000 worth of damage.

"That includes the building and its contents,” he noted.

There were no injuries associated with the blaze, he said.

Sparks also identified the cause of a New Year's Day fire in a home on Tigereye Crescent.

"They'd cleaned out their wood stove and their chimney and then put the ashes in the compost bin,” he said.

"There was a live ember in there and it started a fire.”

That blaze did an estimated $40,000 damage, which Sparks said was relatively low because it was quickly contained.

An off-duty RCMP member and a neighbour both noticed the fire at the same time and were able to knock down the door and rescue the family's dog. No one else was in the house at the time.

Both instances are common examples of how residential fires start, the chief noted.

"We've had a number of them over the years where people have disposed of their ashes not realizing there was still live embers in there,” he said.

"It's amazing how long an ember can last in the ashes; it can last hours and hours.

"Ashes should properly be stored in a metal container and put well away from any building.”

Space heaters are another culprit, though Sparks noted most modern devices have an automatic kill switch in case they are knocked over.

However, any heater that is operating close to combustible material such as wood, paper or cloth is a risk, he said.

Chimney fires are another concern during the winter, Sparks added.

"As we're in the winter and people are using wood stoves, make sure they are cleaned regularly and the ashes stored properly,” he cautioned.