INUVIK (Apr 03/98) - A man will appear in court tomorrow after being charged with starting the fire that caused more than $50,000 damage to the former Jumbo Video store in February.

Inuvik RCMP, following a two-month investigation that used a sniffer dog from Edmonton and investigators from British Columbia, laid charges against an Inuvik man earlier this week. The man, who is in his 30s, made a short court appearance on Monday and will be back in territorial court tomorrow where he may enter a plea.

No one was injured in the fire, but two apartments above the store on Bonnetplume Road were occupied at the time of the early-morning blaze on Feb. 10. The people living there woke to the sounds of passers-bys who had noticed the fire.

The fire department, who had difficulty fighting the fire due to the amount of material stored inside the building.

Louis Jerome of Inuvik has been charged with break and enter, theft and arson.