Adam Johnson
Northern News Services
Wednesday, July 11, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Next Tuesday, Yellowknifers will have a chance to voice their concerns about fire coverage in the capital.

Yellowknife City Hall will host a town meeting Tuesday, July 17 at 7 p.m.

Officially, the meeting is on "fire suppression strategies where fire hydrants are not available."

Yellowknife deputy fire Chief Darcy Hernblad said the meeting is a chance for the fire division to soothe fears Yellowknifers might have about using tanker trucks to fight fires - the primary method in areas without fire hydrants, such as Latham Island

"The main thing is to make everybody understand the water supply system we have in place with our tankers does work quite well," he said.

Hernblad said the fire division plans to explain "step-by-step" how the city's water tanker system works, and answer any questions that pop up.

That said, Hernblad explained that he hoped to hear a wide range of concerns from Yellowknifers - particularly those ones that live in or near areas without hydrant services, such as Old Town, the Kam Lake Industrial Park, the Con and Rycon area and Old Airport Road.

"There are always things that we can do better," Hernblad said.

The meeting comes on the heels of concerns about Yellowknife Fire Division's ability to fight blazes in areas without hydrant services, after a fire destroyed a duplex at 87 Morrison Drive on Latham Island. Crews ran out of water repeatedly, a sight Hernblad said was the result of the fire fighting techniques used, and traffic snares caused by a slew of onlookers.

"There are always going to be times that you have no water," Hernblad said of the current system, where tankers take turns driving to the nearest hydrant to fill up.

"Sometimes we have to educate people as to what we're doing and why we're doing it," he said.

"The system that we have in place right now works extremely well."