A long weekend getaway turned into a disaster Sunday night when a Clark Street house in Clarksburg went up in flames.

The occupants at 234 Clark Street heard a loud bang at 9 p.m. and when they went outside to investigate they discovered the entire side of the house engulfed in flames. Both occupants escaped from the house without injury and called 911.

Town of the Blue Mountains firefighters were on the scene within minutes, but the fire, whipped by high winds, had already taken hold in the roof.

"When we arrived the whole side of the house was on fire and the flames had spread right across the roof," said Fire Prevention Officer A.J. Lake.

Lake said the fire was able to spread unnoticed because it started from the outside and worked its way in. "Because of where the fire started, the smoke detectors did not go off and give the occupants an early warning," said Lake. "When they heard the bang and went outside, the fire was already fully engaged on the outside of the building."

Lake said it appears the fire started in the chimney and the noise they heard was the chimney pipes collapsing. The wind quickly spread the flames to the rest of the all-wood, Cape Cod style house. The second floor was completely destroyed and the main floor and the basement suffered heavy water damage. Damages are estimated at $350,000.

The fire department had two pumpers and two tankers on scene and battled the blaze until about 3:30 a.m. There are no fire hydrants in the area so the tankers had to fill up with water at the fire hall, about 1 km away, and then negotiate a long narrow farm lane to supply the pumpers.