A propane tank burst into flames at the Metis Alliance's fish fry tent Sunday afternoon. (Submitted by T. Fisher)

The head of the North Slave Métis Alliance says he was the only one hurt by a small fire that broke out near the end of the group's National Aboriginal Day fish fry in Yellowknife on Sunday.

Alliance president Bill Enge said he was helping dismantle some of the 45-kilogram propane tanks connected to barbecue grills shortly after 4:30 p.m. MT when flames began spewing from the nozzle of one of the tanks.

"I was a little bit singed — nothing serious, though, of course," Enge told CBC News on Monday. "But when it caught fire, it indeed caught me a little bit, as can be expected when you have a little bit of a fire coming out of the nozzle of a propane tank."

Métis alliance staff members and volunteers had spent the day grilling about 3,000 whitefish fillets, as well as cooking corn and bannock for hundreds of people during the annual fish fry, which took place on the Yellowknife Arena parking lot at Franklin Avenue and Forrest Drive.

Enge said only alliance staff members were in the vicinity when the fire broke out, adding that most people had already left the site.

"One of the canopies that the propane bottle was under caught fire, but I along with another person pulled them down and got them away from the fire so that nothing else would burn," he said. "That pretty much wrapped it up. It was short and sweet."

Enge said there was evidently still some gas trapped inside a valve in the tank, resulting in the fire.

On the bright side, Enge said, Sunday's fish fry was the most successful one yet. In addition to marking National Aboriginal Day, this year's event coincided with Yellowknife's 75th-anniversary homecoming celebrations.