Those out enjoying the tranquility of the Hidden Lakes area of Riverdale on Sunday afternoon are being praised for their efforts which kept the season's first Whitehorse district wildfire from spreading.

George Maratos, a Wildland Fire Management spokesman, said this morning the 0.5-hectare fire is believed to have started from two abandoned campfires which weren't extinguished properly.

A number of people in the area, which is very dry, called 911 and began working to extinguish the blaze when it was discovered at around 3 p.m.

They used their water bottles to douse the flames and worked to get wood away from the blaze and into the nearby lake.

Four firefighters from the city's department were the first on the scene followed by three from Wildland Fire Management. The firefighters arrived by ATV.

"The consequences of a wildfire in this area could have been serious,” said Wildland deputy officer Mike Sparks.

"I want to acknowledge the efforts of those members of the public in actioning and quickly reporting the fire as well as the work by firefighters with the City of Whitehorse and Wildland Fire Management to put the fire out before it could spread to the nearby forest.”

While the public isn't usually encouraged to take actions into their own hands when it comes to extinguishing wildfires, in this case, Sparks said, their efforts kept the blaze from spreading any further.

"Thankfully, our staff and the city firefighters were able to extinguish it before it spread into the surrounding forest and became a much more severe situation,” he said.

Maratos noted campfires are not allowed within the city and the only burning that is legal is within fire pits that have been inspected and permitted by the city's fire department.

The fire was the season's fourth in the territory, with the Dawson, Mayo and Ross River districts each seeing a 0.1-ha fire this spring for a total 0.8 ha burned in the territory.