Inuvik firefighters work to get a trailer fire on Navy Road under control around 8 a.m. July 2. No one was hurt but the property was destroyed. - Deanna Larocque/NNSL photo |
Fire destroys Inuvik trailer
Occupants able to escape, now staying with family
Meagan Leonard
Northern News Services
Monday, July 6, 2015
INUVIK
Two people and their dog are safe following a fire that destroyed a trailer in Inuvik July 2.
Fire crews received a call around 7:30 a.m. from neighbours who witnessed smoke billowing from beneath the dwelling and responded immediately, according to Inuvik Fire Chief Jim Sawkins.
Sawkins said the blaze was under control within the
hour but "the trailer was a write off," adding it is believed to have been caused by faulty wiring in a crawlspace on the far side of the home.
"I believe a wire over time deteriorated in the vicinity of where an addition was joined to the original trailer," he explained.
Peter Smith lives in one
of the neighbouring trailers and said he had just woken
up and was heading outside for a cigarette when he noticed something wasn't right.
"I noticed there was smoke coming out of the corner of the trailer so ... I went over to the house and banged on the door," he recalled.
Smith said he could not hear a smoke alarm inside the house, which he says led him to believe he must have woken the occupants.
"When I talked to him afterwards he said he just got up and thought he smelled smoke and then he heard me knocking on the door."
Soon after the structure was completely engulfed in flames.
"No sooner than they had got out - maybe 15 minutes later, it just went up," he said.
"Those trailers over there, once they get started they go pretty quick."
Smith said he is grateful for the quick action of volunteer fire fighters who were able to get the blaze under control before it spread to the surrounding homes.
"My wife was pretty nervous and a little bit scared too. Figuring it might come over toward us had it gone over across to our side of the utilidor, our trailer too is very old and it would have gone up like that," he said.
"(The firefighters) did a really good job ... it was very bad but it could have been worse."
Sawkins is encouraging others in the neighbourhood with similar trailers to check for wiring that could be problematic.
"They might want to check to make sure that their wiring is not pinched in any, way, shape or form or exposed to any time of rubbing or chaffing or deterioration," he cautioned.
The approximate value of property lost was still unknown at press time.
