Fire crews in Saskatoon had to contend with some unforeseen dangers when they responded to a house fire on Sunday.

The home in the 500 block of Avenue M went up in flames Sunday afternoon. Initially, there were reports that a child was still inside the home, but fire crews say everyone got out safely.

However when crews rushed into the house, they were warned it may be a drug house.

"We started offensive then when we heard there may be needles we went into defensive mode until we could determine that we could get in safely," said Glenn Ledray of the Saskatoon Fire and Protective Services.

Crews had to battle the blaze from the roof, spraying water down the chimney to bring the fire under control.

Police were called to the scene to help with the investigation.