A house on Whitby Crescent caught fire early Monday evening and the Steinbach Fire Chief says it will be a total loss.

Kel Toews notes they were called to the house fire at approximately 5:30 P.M.

"We arrived and there was already fire blowing out of the roof, it had breached the roof and it was fully involved. We extinguished it from the exterior and did some mop up on the inside. The houses on either side of it sustained considerable damage just the vinyl siding melted nothing to the interior. We extinguished the fire and the house will be a total loss."

Toews says that house is a rental property with two suites, one upstairs and the other downstairs. He notes the downstairs residents were away when the fire started but there was someone at home upstairs who called 911. The residents were able to evacuate the building without incident.