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By Herb Mathisen
Northern News Services
Published Tuesday, January 13, 2009

A fire late Thursday night destroyed a popular hangout where Ski-Doo lovers worked on their sleds.

Darcy Hernblad, deputy fire chief, said the fire was well established in the garage when crews arrived on the scene at around 10:45 p.m. He said the fire hall was alerted the the blaze from passers-by who saw flames shooting out of the garage. Fire crews responded to 238 Borden Drive with 24 personnel, two firetrucks, a rescue vehicle and an ambulance, in sub -30 C temperatures.

Tanner Klochko stands next to Mitch Andrews' snowmobile – redubbed "Two-Face" – after a fire to their parents' garage last Thursday night melted the siding and seat of the machine. The cause of the blaze, which destroyed the garage of the home at 238 Borden Drive and caused between $50,000 and $75,000 in damage, is not yet known. - Herb Mathisen/NNSL photo

The garage sat just a few feet from a neighbouring trailer and from the home at 238 Borden. Crews took an aggressive interior attack to take control of the fire, said Hernblad.

"The initial attack crew did a tremendous job," he said.

Miraculously, 238 Borden received only a cracked window and some of the vinyl siding melted. The neighbouring trailer also escaped serious damage.

"It really had the potential to catch both those trailers on fire," said Hernblad, adding the radiating heat could have set them ablaze.

Fire marshal Steve Moss said while the investigation hasn't uncovered a definitive cause of the fire, he has not found anything that points toward a suspicious fire.

"I don't have anything that makes me believe that somebody came in and intentionally started that fire there," he said.

Moss estimated the fire caused $50,000 to $75,000 in damage, without knowing exactly what the contents were of the garage. He said the garage was a "total loss."

On Friday afternoon, a group of six teenagers and young men were surveying the damage to the garage.

"It sucks, man," said Tanner Klochko, whose parents own the house.

He hung out often in the garage.

"It's not a party or anything. We just go there to fix our sleds," he said.

Tara Andrews, who lives down the street but visits her parents' home regularly, said her brother and his friends will now have to find another shop to use.

"Those kids and a million other kids hang out there," she said.

No snowmachines were inside the garage at the time of the fire. Amazingly, all three that were sitting outside the garage ran the next day, though there was some surface damage.

"It's a true firecat, I guess," Tanner joked, referencing his Arctic Cat, with its front end burned.

Tara said her brother Mitch's machine still started, but looked a little worse for wear.

"Now his Ski-Doo is like Two-Face," she laughed.

Like the Batman villain's face, one side of Mitch Andrews' idling sled sat unscathed, while the siding and seat on the other side was melted.

Tara's parents were out of town in Hay River on Thursday, she said.

She got a hold of them Thursday night.

"They sound OK, but they're probably not OK," she said.

Insurance assessors were looking at the garage Friday.

Tara was thankful to the fire crews for limiting the blaze to the garage.

"It could have easily did a lot more damage because the wind was blowing this way, toward the house," she said.

The garage held countless tools, snowmobile gear and spare parts, said Mitch. Tara said it was like a second home, replete with television and stereo.

The family lost valuables such as photo albums and baby gear, although Tara said they were able to salvage one box, which unfortunately was half-burned.

Tanner said his father had recently moved two customized Harley Davidson motorcycles out of the garage and underneath the house.

While speaking to Yellowknifer, he received a phone call from a worried family member enquiring about the state of the bikes.

"My dad has two kids under the house," Tanner joked.