Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (May 31/99) - Nineteen people have been left homeless in the wake of an early morning fire that gutted two residential units and left four others severely smoke and water damaged.

Officials say the May 23 fire, and the resulting $1.2 million in damages, were caused by a careless smoker.

"From our investigation and our interviews, we know the fire started in the second floor B unit. All indications are that...a cigarette was probably left burning and it dropped out of the ashtray into a pile of clothes," said Mike Ferris, Nunavut's fire marshal.

Firefighters said they were called out to the scene at 7:36 a.m. last Sunday morning and arrived about six minutes later with two firetrucks that hooked up to fire hydrants. Both of the department's ambulances were also called out to the blaze.

Station supervisor Cory Chegwyn said that, upon arriving at House 306, they saw that the entire front wall of the building had collapsed and witnesses said there had been an explosion. Ferris explained that the incident was what the department called a backdraft explosion.

"There was enough heat in the room, and it built up enough in the oxygen starved room, that when the tenants opened the door to leave after the fire alarms went off, it provided clean oxygen and there was a backdraft explosion," said Ferris.

Once the wall collapsed, the addition of even more oxygen vented the fire and Chegwyn said it grew bigger quite quickly. Because the flames proceeded up into the roof and the ceiling in both top-floor units, fighting it was extremely difficult.

"The area where the fire began, it had burned right through the floor so there was some poor stability up on the second floor and that hindered us from getting to the ceiling from the inside. That caused us to have to do a lot from the outside and it took a lot longer than we hoped," said Chegwyn.

The 20 or so firefighters fought the blaze for close to five hours and finally managed to extinguish it by 12:12 p.m. Chegwyn said it was one of the bigger fires that he's been called out to in his 10-year career.

With the exception of one teenaged boy who was treated for smoke inhalation at the Baffin Regional Hospital, there were no injuries to residents or to members of the fire department and, thanks to some quick juggling by the Iqaluit Housing Authority, all 19 people have since found new accommodations.

But the incident has left Susan Spring, manager of the Housing Authority, angry.

Responsible for looking after the tenants' housing needs and the six-plex that was destroyed, Spring said in effect, the 19 people were bumped to the front of the waiting list and displaced other people who had also been waiting for social housing -- and all because of a careless smoker. She explained that the $1.2 million, which will be used to rebuild the unit, could have gone towards the construction of much-needed new housing.

"I'd like to know how the community feels about this. I've been advised by the fire marshal that it's not mechanical, not electrical, but human factor. This is a waste of money, money that could have been better used to build additional houses," said Spring.

"This is not good news. It's going to be at least a year -- that's six housing units offline for at least one year."