Muriel Betsina is hoping to rebuild the 'Lord's house' she and her late husband started to build 10 years ago. Late Tuesday night, the long-time resident of Ndilo was shocked to find that her new home was burning to the ground, in a fire the police are now investigating as possible arson.
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Apr 27/01) - A blaze that cost a Ndilo woman her dream home is being called 'suspicious' by RCMP investigators.
The house was completely engulfed in flames Tuesday night when firefighters arrived on the scene, eight minutes after being notified of the fire.
"There was a truck that parked 30 metres away and the guys could feel the heat coming through the windshield," said deputy fire chief Mike Lowing.
"All that work -- for nothing!" said a distraught woman who was among a group of area residents who witnessed the fire. The woman identified herself as the daughter of Muriel Betsina, the woman who owned the home.
Betsina, a Yellowknives Dene band councillor, was at a meeting in Dettah when the fire broke out. "I felt so weak, like somebody kicked me," said Betsina of her initial reaction to the news.
RCMP investigators interviewed Betsina the day after the fire as part of an ongoing investigation by the force and the NWT Fire Marshall's office. Sgt. Alan McCambridge said investigations are launched whenever the cause of a fire is not known or when there is evidence it may have been set deliberately.
McCambridge said yesterday he did not know when the investigation would conclude.
"They're very time-consuming. On- site investigation requires some time, including lab analysis."
Construction of the home began in the early 1990s. "My husband went from paycheque-to-paycheque and all the kids chipped in," said Bestina.
The NWT Housing Corporation at one point had ordered a halt to construction because of a dispute over the size of the planned 10-bedroom home. The building stood unfinished until construction resumed in February. Betsina credits the help Weledeh MLA Joe Handley offered to get the project going again.
Initially, the home was to be for Betsina's family. But because five of her seven children moved out on their own during the construction stoppage, she had hoped to turn the home into a healing facility. Betsina's husband died three years ago.
"I called it the Lord's house," she said. "I wanted to do some work for the Lord, to help other people."
Plans to rebuild
The speed at which the building burned was the result of exposed wood framing of interior and some exterior walls, Lowing said.
"Essentially, the entire three storeys was unprotected wood," said the deputy fire chief. The conflagration sent flames 15-20 metres in the air. The blaze could be seen from downtown Yellowknife.
With her dream home in ashes, Betsina continues to live in a small 42-year-old house she said has been condemned by the fire marshall. She said she hopes to rebuild the house, but does not know where she's going to get the money to do it. She would not say if the house was insured.
A rough estimate sets the damage of the blaze at $150,000, including $20,000 worth of tools and equipment owned by the contractor. Lowing said there is no connection between Wednesday's blaze and a small fire started in Ndilo by children last weekend.
