Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Chesterfield Inlet (Aug 23/00) - Carelessly playing with matches has destroyed the co-op warehouse in Chesterfield Inlet.

Firefighters received a call about the fire at the warehouse around 8:30 p.m., Aug. 9.

The blaze was fully involved by the time the nine firefighters arrived, and took more than 90 minutes to bring under control.

No injuries were reported in the fire, which was started by children, and there was no damage to nearby structures.

"The blaze was started by four youth, aged six to eight," says Keewatin fire marshall Tim Hinds.

Chesterfield Inlet fire Chief Johnny Sammurtok has already spoken with the children and will be talking to their parents.

"It's an education process," says Hinds. "These kids have gone through a good example of a bad experience and that has to be reinforced without scaring them.

"Basically, we have to stress the dangers of this type of behaviour and get the message across in a way that they won't feel like they're being browbeaten and not learn anything."

Initial estimates of the damaged building and its contents are about $40,000 says Tim Hinds.

"The frame is still standing, but the building is a write-off," says Hinds.

Hinds says that based on what his department knows, the kids were vandalizing the warehouse when things took a turn for the worst.

"This type of behaviour hasn't been a problem for the past six months, but historically, child fire play has been a big problem throughout the territory.

"Unfortunately, it's not a problem you can really control.

"Education is your best bet to try and get the message across that this type of behaviour is dangerous and unacceptable, while, at the same time, educate the kids on how to properly handle fire under supervision."