Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jun 28/00) - RCMP have been called in to investigate a fire that destroyed a shed belonging to Miramar Con Mine Monday afternoon.

The matter is still under investigation and RCMP can't say anything more than that they are dealing with young offenders at this point.

Acting fire chief Sandy McPhee communicates amidst the heavy smoke caused by the fire.

The fire engulfed a drilling core storage building owned by Miramar Con Mine that contained core samples of gold exploration work. A monetary value is not yet available from Miramar but general manager John Stard loosely estimates it to be in the thousands of dollars. More important is the lost information the samples provided.

"It would have been nice to have," he said.

"There was probably not a lot of value there. It was mainly information from 40 years ago."

The building was completely engulfed when the first crew of firefighters attended the scene, sending off a large column of black smoke, which could be seen over most of the city. Diesel fuel being stored in the building added to the initial intensity of the fire that took over five hours to put out completely.

Deputy fire chief Mike Lowing said the main factor was the construction of the shed. It was built with sheet metal and contained core samples tightly packed together in wooden crates separated by 10-millimetre steel rebar.

"Metal continues to do what it's done for years," said Lowing. "And that's allow water to run off of it. So, that's what made it difficult."

A large loader was brought in from Miramar to collapse the building and extinguishing the fire could only then be accomplished by applying water to various sections burning.

Sixteen firefighters staffing two tankers, two ambulances, two command units, two pumpers and a rescue truck responded to the fire that began shortly before 4 p.m. and was extinguished at 9 p.m.

Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development also provided further assistance by providing equipment such as a pump and hose line set up in Rat Lake for a further water resource. RWED also supplied a helicopter when the fire department requested to monitor the dry forested area, making sure spot fires were seen if flying brands escaped from the structure fire.

An estimated 135,000 litres of water were used and a water resource officer from DIAND attended the incident to monitor the runoff into Rat Lake.

One firefighter was injured when he fell on glass while fighting the fire and was taken to Stanton Regional Hospital where he received stitches.