Jason Unrau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 17/05) - Fire swept through a Kingmingya Road residence Saturday afternoon despite efforts of 14 volunteer firefighters.

As the smoke billowed out from behind The Roost restaurant, police arrived at the scene to control a growing number of onlookers.

"Nobody was in the home and there were no injuries, just a lot of tired people," said Inuvik fire Chief Al German of the blaze that took the fire department more than three hours to extinguish.

"The building is a write-off, though and will have to be removed from the property."

The department received a call about the fire at approximately 3:40 p.m.

German said members of the fire department were recalled to the scene Sunday morning.

"It was smouldering so we had to put some water on it."

On Wednesday, the territory's fire marshal arrived to investigate the cause and until a report is filed, the cause of the blaze will not be known.

Inuvik RCMP says the fire is still under investigation, however it cannot proceed until the fire marshall's report is submitted.

It's not known how many people lived in the house.