Iqaluit (May 16/05) - "Holy smokes, the whole new section is gone," said Duncan Cunningham as he watched flames devour his Apex home, Friday evening.

Dark smoke from the fire could be seen from afar and drew residents out to watch the spectacle. Nearby, children played on, stopping intermittently to take in the destruction.

"Was it fun living in the house?" one child asked Cunningham.

"Yes, it was," the distraught owner said. "Was is the operative word."

Cunningham currently lives in Pond Inlet so the house was vacant at the time of the fire. He was visiting Iqaluit to help coach a volleyball tournament.The fire department began receiving phonecalls about the blaze shortly before 6 p.m. on Friday. They arrived to find the front of the building fully engulfed, said Cpt. Greg Jewers.

The department deployed its full arsenal of two fire trucks and about 20 firefighters to combat the blaze, but strong winds and the lack of a local water supply in Apex left them fighting an uphill battle. A water truck rattled back and forth to town to supply the portable tanks.

Neighbours were evacuated from their homes until about midnight, and power was cut to the neighbourhood as a safety precaution.

The firefight continued until 4 a.m. By morning, all that was left of the building were the skeletal remains of a few walls and a smoldering pile of rubble.

There were no reported injuries. Police and the fire department are investigating the cause of the fire.