Yellowknife (May 14/03) - "I think that trailer's toast," Serge Mercier calmly told his neighbour as he watched flames lick along the roof of his single-wide trailer Monday evening.

Mercier -- a former Miramar Con mine employee who is presently on disability -- had been gone about ten minutes before the fire engulfed the extension to his trailer at 125 Stinson Rd. in the Northlands Trailer Park.

Serge Mercier surveys the damage to his single-wide trailer a few hours after the fire. - Erin Fletcher/NNSL photo

"I put a couple of sticks on the stove and went out," he said in disbelief.

"The time it took to get back that thing was on fire."

Mercier uses the wood stove, located in the extension, to heat a hot water tank suspended above the stove.

He'd put a few sticks in the stove and then hopped into his truck. He headed downtown to go to the bank for some money to buy a case of beer. On his return trip past his house he saw fire trucks clustered outside.

"Things happen pretty quickly around here," he said as he watched the firefighters on the roof of his home.

They were prying the roof open so they could fight the flames that were crawling along the rafters.

His neighbours had called the fire department at about 5:40 p.m. after hearing the trailer's smoke alarms and seeing the smoke.

Within minutes the Yellowknife Fire Department was on scene. Lucky for Mercier, many of the firefighters were already at the fire hall to participate in a Students Against Drinking and Driving (SADD) extrication demonstration, said deputy fire Chief Clem St. Croix.

"It significantly decreased the amount of response time because people were ready to run," said St. Croix, Tuesday morning.

In the end about eight firefighters killed the blaze and saved the trailer and most of its contents.

The damages

Mercier had been renting out the two-bedroom home to some friends and most of his personal belongings were inside a camper parked in the driveway. He'd been preparing to visit his sister in British Columbia.

"I'm glad the camper didn't go because I have another place to stay," he said.

Although there is extensive smoke damage to the inside of the trailer, most of the family photos, china and the contents of the back bedrooms was saved.

But not a moment too soon. Mercier examined the internal trailer walls a few hours later and pointed out the spots that were beginning to combust from the heat.

The photos on the walls had already began to bubble and the VCR was melted into a molten mass of blackened plastic. Everything was covered in a thick black film from the smoke.

St. Croix estimates the damage at $65,000. He said the modified wood stove and chimney caused the fire.

"The modifications to the stove allowed it to hold more wood so it burned longer and it burned hotter," said St. Croix.

"Wood stoves are meant to be used as you buy them and are not supposed to be altered."

Mercier has lived in the trailer for the past 11 years.

"It was almost paid off and in another year or so it would have been paid off," he said sadly.

While Mercier has a camper to live in, his two tenants will be staying at friends homes until things are sorted out with the insurance company.