An explosion and fire at a house in northeast Edmonton Wednesday morning may have been deliberately set, say investigators.

The house, near 120th Avenue and 43rd Street in the Beacon Heights neighbourhood, exploded just after 8 a.m.

Fire investigator Daryl Brennan says they received a tip that it could be a case of arson.

His team got a warrant to investigate inside the house using the help of a dog trained to sniff out accelerants.

"We took some samples of some areas that we thought were intentionally set and those will be sent off to a lab to see what they could have been," said Brennan.

"I turned to look and the glass came flying," said Nonnie Jackson who was smoking on her step next door at the time of the explosion. "I ducked and ran down to the bottom of the steps and ... back into the house."

"I instructed my son to get to the garage, gather up the dogs and got them into the garage — all the while talking to 911."

When firefighters arrived flames were licking out of one of the windows, but was quickly extinguished.

There's no damage estimate available, but the fire was contained to the one house.

No one was in the house at the time.

Jackson said the owner has lived there for years, but was working out of town when the explosion happened.

He had done some renovation work on the house last year, Jackson said.

Jackson and her husband called the owner to tell him about the explosion this morning.

"He was pretty upset — as you would be if you're three hours away and you heard your house went up."

The house’s owner has since returned to Edmonton, but declined comment.