Photo: WKFR

Firefighters in West Kelowna were up and at 'em early Thursday morning for a report of a fire.

They didn't find any sign of smoke or flames, but they did come away with some advice for others.

West Kelowna Fire Rescue was called out at about 5:20 a.m. for a report of a possible house fire on Old Okanagan Highway.

"The residents had been awakened by working smoke alarms, that had detected a very light smoke accumulation in the home," said WKFR assistant fire Chief Darren Lee.

"WKFR crews checked the home with thermal imaging cameras and four-gas detectors, to ensure that there was no hidden fire or other issues," he said.

"The source of the light smoke is believed to be an accumulation of dust in the home's forced-air natural gas furnace, that caused a malfunction."

Lee said the homeowner will have the furnace serviced and the assistant chief is asking others to do the same.

"With local temperatures dipping well below freezing, WKFR is reminding our customers to ensure that their heating appliances have been maintained in good working order by a professional HVAC contractor," he said.

He's also warning people that space heaters aren't designed to replace permanently installed heating appliances, citing a report that shows heating equipment fires accounted for 16 per cent of all reported home fires in 2009-2013 and 19 per cent of home fire deaths.

"Space heaters are the type of heating equipment most often involved in home heating fires," he said.