DAWSON CITY – An unexplained fire took the home of Janice Rose and Todd Dewald on Pierre Berton Drive on Tuesday afternoon.

“The call came in at 1:26,” said Dawson fire chief Jim Regimbal.

He hadn’t yet had a chance to do a full investigation when he spoke to the Star, but was not concerned that it was anything more than an accidental ignition of some variety.

“It’s just a matter of finding out the cause and origin of the fire,” Regimbal said.

Arson or any kind of foul play is not suspected, he added.

He described the house as a total write-off and said it was fortunate that the family has insurance.

Nevertheless, they have lost everything in the house, including several pets.

Regimbal said firefighters have not discovered any animal remains in the rubble at that point. He’s hoping they might have escaped into the woods.

Many years earlier, before his time, and with the previous owners of the property, there had been a heat-trace fire at that home.

There isn’t a water main up to that subdivision.

While there is a large storage tank near the bottom of the drive, close to where it intersects the Dome Road, it was easier and far more efficient to have Grenon Enterprises making resupply runs with its water trucks.

Regimbal said the trucks made about four trips. “That was fabulous,” he said.

It meant that the fire trucks at the scene could pump continuously without have to leave to get more water.

“The new initial attack truck really worked well at this scene too.”

Regimbal said a crew of about 25 firefighters turned out for this emergency, including those who work in town and a crew from the Klondike Valley station.

Two members from Sunnydale actually canoed across the Yukon River to respond to the alert.

“The fire went in under the eaves of the house and worked its way into the house,” Regimbal said.

“There were two (portable) propane tanks that vented the way they should, so they didn’t explode or become airborne projectiles.

“I don’t think we could have handled it any better, but it’s sad. You stand back and look at it, and it’s devastating.”

Some smoke from the fire was visible in the downtown area between 1:30 and 2 p.m.

People could be seen standing on the roofs of some of the taller downtown buildings to see what was happening, not that anything other than smoke would have been visible from there.

The family has been offered a room at the Eldorado Hotel.

A gofundme.com online site has been established at www.gofundme.com/uf3btds and has already raised $10,455 of a projected $20,000 target.