FAIRBANKS — A West Fairbanks mobile home was gutted by a quick-moving fire on Saturday afternoon, destroying the residence where a woman in her 70s, her granddaughter and great-grandson lived.

A crew from the University Fire Department arrived on the scene within two minutes of the fire report at roughly 2 p.m., Battalion Chief Greg Coon said, but it was already a loss by the time they burst through the front door.

Dixie Steele was forced out of her burning home so quickly that she ran outside barefoot, her son-in-law Paul Pike said. She was being evaluated for smoke inhalation but it appeared she was going to be OK, he said.

Kathy Pike, who is Steele’s daughter, and her husband Paul live next door to Steele. Paul Pike said their daughter, Paula Pike, and 2-year-old grandson, Kanen Joseph, also lived in the destroyed mobile home.

Steele was the only person home at the time of the fire.

Paul Pike said he was sitting in his living room watching football when he heard Steele yelling outside. When he looked out, he said flames were already pouring out of the back of her mobile home.

“By the time I got out it was all done,” he said.

“It happened in a minute, I swear,” he said. “It happened in a minute.”

The home was in Gold Rush Estates, a mobile home park near the intersection of College Road and University Avenue. Paul Pike said Steele had lived in the home for more than a decade.

Coon said at the scene that the cause of the fire was still unconfirmed.

Paul Pike said Steele was shaken by the fire and appeared to be confused in the moments after fleeing the blaze. After running out of the mobile home, Steele mentioned an electrical short in a bathroom fan as a possible cause, and later said she thought the furnace had exploded.

“She’s not real clear on what happened,” he said. “She doesn’t know.”