Ian Elliot
Northern News Services

DELINE (May 08/98) - The Northern Store in Deline was gutted by Þre on Saturday night.

Damage is estimated at $200,000 to the modern steel-clad structure and about $3-million to the contents of the store, which were all but destroyed by smoke in the blaze. The Þre is still under investigation but ofÞcials do not believe it was arson.

Deputy Þre marshal Tim Pawluk, who spent two days in the community investigating the Þre, said he is looking at a possible electrical fault among other possible causes, but said he did not believe it had been deliberately set. The Þre began in an ofÞce in the back of the building and was reported less than an hour after the store had closed for the day.

The Þre was a particularly difÞcult one to Þght, he said, because the building had a steel exterior and timber trusses inside. That arrangement gave the Þre fuel and contained both œames and smoke with the result that ÞreÞghters had to go inside the building to Þght it.

Pawluk had praise for the Deline volunteer Þre department, which aggressively fought the Þre despite near-zero visibility inside the store. Simply getting into the building was a challenge because of the security features of the store there, which included locked steel grates over all the doors and windows.

"They had to get a truck with a winch and pull the metal grates off to get inside," he said. "If it hadn't have been for what they did, the whole building would have been destroyed."

The store will be rebuilt. Residents can still buy groceries and other merchandise at the co-op store in the community.

It was the second major store Þre in the Sahtu in the past three weeks. The Tetlit Co-op in Fort McPherson burned to the ground last month. The 16-year-old charged with arson in connection with the blaze will appear in court in Inuvik on May 25.