Yellowknife (Mar 15/06) - Angry and still in mourning, the father and sister of a dead city firefighter are bringing plenty of questions to Yellowknife Friday when they attend a public memorial saluting Kevin Olson and Cyril Fyfe.

Brent Olson, left, and his wife Susan hold a medal and Kevin Olson's helmet during a March 2005 memorial held to honour their son and Cyril Fyfe, both killed after the roof of a shed at Home Building Centre collapsed on top of them on March 17, 2005. - NNSL file photo

The two men were killed March 17, 2005, after the roof of a burning shed at Home Building Centre collapsed on top of them.

Interviewed early this week, Olson's father Brent and sister Christina say they hope the truth will finally come out about why the two men died, now that charges have been laid into their deaths.

Olson, 24, was pronounced dead at hospital the same morning. Fyfe, 41 and an 18-year veteran, was taken off life support four days later. Both men were asphyxiated by the weight of the roof, snow and firefighters that fell on top of them.

Their deaths launched investigations by the NWT Workers' Compensation Board (WCB), the chief coroner's office and the NWT fire marshal, but little has been publicly disclosed that could explain why such a seemingly routine fire call turned so tragic.

On Friday, the WCB announced it was laying two charges each against fire chief Mick Beauchamp, deputy fire chief Darcy Hernblad, and the City of Yellowknife for failing to ensure the men's safety, and failing to provide adequate training.

Each charge under the NWT Safety Act carries a maximum $500,000 penalty and/or one year in prison.

The family believes the incident was a training exercise gone awry.

"As far as I know they turned it into a training exercise by having two volunteers up on the roof with them," said Christina Olson, who lives in Calgary. Kevin Olson was also from Calgary and had only been on the job in Yellowknife less than a month when he died.

"My fiancee is a firefighter and I know their first priority is life and then property. They should have just let it burn to the ground."

The family says Kevin came to Yellowknife to gain experience before hopefully moving onto a bigger fire department down south.

His first real chance to fight a fire in this city turned out to be his last. He had been on the job for barely three weeks and had worked only eight shifts when the call came in for the Home Building fire around 7 a.m.

"At the outset, looking at the footage we were able to see from the news media, we knew right away there was something wrong," said Brent Olson, also in Calgary.

"Why would there be (four) guys on the roof when there were two guys inside?

"Obviously, each group did not know the other group was where they were, so the site commander wasn't doing his job."

Christina Olson said if anything, the WCB's decision to lay charges will go a long way to ensuring a similar scenario couldn't replay itself in this city again.

She said someone from her family will try and be here when the case goes to court.

"The bottom line is if this is what has to happen for them to get their safety procedures and policies in place so no family has to go through this," said Christina.

"I would never wish this on my worst enemy. I fully support whatever they (WCB) have to do."

The Olsons say they've been kept constantly up to date in all the developments over the last year by Craig Halifax, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters 2890, and other firefighters.

The WCB has also been in communication with them in recent weeks. Brent Olson said chief coroner Percy Kinney has been "really, really good."

"We haven't heard from Mick or Darcy since day one. They never contacted our family," said Christina Olson.

Brent Olson bitterly pointed out that it was the fire hall's union, and not the city who offered to pay for plane tickets for families to attend Friday's tribute.

"The city is very lax in wanting to supply any support," said Brent Olson.

Christina Olson, along with her fiancee and sister Teri Howatt, will be in Yellowknife this week to attend Friday's one-year anniversary tribute to Fyfe and Olson.

Her travel plans include a visit to the site where her brother was killed. "Their call came into the fire department at 7:04 a.m. When that roof collapsed at 7:30 a.m., that's when he would've technically died in our minds. I'm just going to live the last half-hour of his life where he was."