by Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

NNSL (Oct 08/97) - Diane Patry knows first-hand the importance of fire safety.

She says her 18-year-old son Stephen survived a fire that destroyed their 49th Street bungalow last April 10 only because his bedroom door was closed while he took an afternoon nap.

"We've always taught them to keep the door shut," said Patry, who moved back into their refurbished home July 27.

"That's what saved him."

Patry said that even something as simple as closing doors can save lives as well as decrease heat and smoke damage.

"Even upstairs in those rooms that the door was closed, I could see a difference," she said.

The Patry fire started around 3:30 p.m. when a faulty fluorescent light ballast fell to the floor in the basement laundry room. Nothing short of removing the light could have prevented the fire.

Firefighters quickly arrived on the scene, but the fire had already charred most of the house and its contents. It had to be rebuilt and its contents replaced.

Deputy fire chief Mike Lowing said there have been major fires almost monthly in Yellowknife so far in 1997. The estimated fire loss in the city is $1,826,450.

While fire loss in the city has been decreasing steadily over the last decade (with the exception of 1994), fire is devastating and knows no boundaries.

Lowing, who's parents' home on School Draw Avenue caught on fire when he was 15, said that nobody is immune to the tragedy of fire.

"Once a fire breaks out, it does not matter how much property you own, everybody is treated the same," he said.

Patry, who lost everything her family had worked for more than 20 years, said that the experience has taught her a lot.

"It's hard when you work so hard and then everything can be taken away so fast," she said. "My husband and I had worked so hard for 24 years to get to the point where we had everything."

Patry still misses what the fire destroyed, but reminds herself that she has to get on with life.

More than six months later, she still remembers her husband Michel trying to make her feel better as their house was burning.

"He said that's OK -- we'll start over again," she said. "We'd be together and we'd get through it."

"It's taught me not to take things for granted," she added.