Jason Unrau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Oct 28/05) - The fire at Samuel Hearne secondary school last Wednesday evening resulted from ongoing repairs at the facility, according to NWT fire marshall Bernie Van Tighem.

"It's most likely due to welding underneath the building," he said. "Either the metal got hot enough (to ignite) or possibly a spark or piece of slug got into the wood."

The fire, which started underneath the school at approximately 11:45 p.m. Oct 19, activated the sprinkler system and was put out shortly afterwards by the Inuvik Fire Department.

There were no injuries and no serious damage to the building.

"From what I understand, this won't affect the opening of the school in January," said Van Tighem, adding that repairing the damage would become part of the current construction project to ensure the facility's lateral structural integrity.

In an Oct. 21 press release, Minister of Public Works Floyd Roland called the fire minor and reaffirmed his department's commitment to get the students back into the facility following Christmas break, as originally promised.

"This is a small fire," he said. "It has not impacted the ongoing repairs being made to the school, neither will it result in changes to the (January 2006) date students will return to their classrooms."

A deliberately-set fire at SHSS in May 2004 caused more than a million dollars in damage to the school's gymnasium. As well, a firefighter lost a portion of his finger while fighting the fire.