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Bonnetplume fire was set
by Ian Elliot
INUVIK (Feb 20/98) - Officials say a fire in a Bonnetplume Road building last week was deliberately set and have launched an arson investigation.
Fire broke out on the bottom floor of the building, the former home
of Jumbo Video, early on Wednesday morning and firefighters spent four
hours bringing the blaze under control. Although the business was
unoccupied, the space was being renovated and was also being used as
storage, and the amount of material there made the fire more difficult to
fight.
Two apartments above the business were occupied by tenants,
who were not injured in the fire.
The Inuvik RCMP is investigating whether the fire was set
to damage the property or harm the tenants who lived upstairs. They credit
passersby for calling the fire department and alerting the tenants that
their building was on fire.
Inuvik Fire Chief Al German said the tenants have been
relocated and water and power shut off to the building.
He estimated damage at about $50,000.
"The fire was limited to an exterior wall and an interior
wall," he said.
"We caught it in time, but there was a lot of smoke damage."
Because a number of fires have occurred in the building
over the past few months, regional Deputy Fire Marshal Tim Pawluk brought
in a specially-trained sniffer dog and specialized equipment to determine
if the fire was deliberately set, and whether an accelerant such as
gasoline was used.
The dog has been used in two previous fires in the area:
the Chief Julius school fire in Fort McPherson and at a house fire in
Tuktoyaktuk that killed five people.
Pawluk, who says the dog sniffed out evidence that an
accelerant was used, called the blaze "totally suspicious" and said the
investigation has been handed over to the police. |