RANKIN INLET
Volunteer firefighters responded to a dangerous garage fire in Area 6 of Rankin Inlet April 11.

Volunteer firefighter Mark Kappi and Capt. George Aksadjuak, right, get in close while fighting a blaze in Area 6 of Rankin Inlet in April of 2016. - photo courtesy of Mark Wyatt

The shed suffered extensive damages from the blaze, but there were no injuries.

Rankin fire Chief Mark Wyatt said the shed had three snowmobiles and some tools inside of it when the blaze broke out.

He said the challenge with the fire was the fact the firefighters were notified there were also a number of jerry cans full of gas inside the shed upon their arrival.

"We got on scene early enough, and the owner told us where the jerry cans were, but we couldn't make access because of all the smoke and everything," said Wyatt.

"We managed to pull a second line to get two lines going inside, and that cooled the area where the jerry cans were to the point where we got the fire out.

"When I went inside to do an investigation there were all these jerry cans that were all melted right through, but they didn't ignite."

Wyatt said if the fire had burned for a little bit longer the gas cans would all have gone up.

He said if one had blown, they all would have went.

"The wind was blowing at about 50 to 70 km/h straight at the back of the resident's house.

"If they had of gone up, it would have been a whole different ball game.

"At that point we would have been looking at the house potentially catching fire, as well."

Wyatt said the temperature with the windchill was about -45 C at the time of the fire.

He said the firefighters were at the scene for about

90 minutes.

"The shed is still standing, but, structurally, I'd tear off what's left of the inside walls and have a look at it.

"Potentially they could rebuild it, but we had to put a new window in the backside to ventilate the building.

"It's still standing, but everything inside is a write-off."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.