Cause of old town fire unknown
Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Dec 13/00) - The cause of a fire that destroyed an Old Town warehouse Saturday morning is still under investigation.
The building was completely destroyed in the blaze and damages are estimated at $60,000. It was owned by Chris Bromley of Bromley and Sons Ltd.
Deputy fire chief Sandy McPhee says the warehouse was heated. Arson is not suspected, but it hasn't yet been ruled out as the possible cause.
"At this point in time we don't believe that arson is a factor."
He said the fire department is still trying to contact the Bromleys to determine exactly what the building was used for. McPhee provided further information about problems firefighters ran into while attempting to douse the flames.
He said four or five members of the Yellowknife Fire Department sustained minor frosbite injuries as a result of the -41 temperatures.
"We had some equipment problems, freezing up of lines, our ladder froze up on our aerial truck and it took a while to get that unthawed."
He said the last vehicle at the scene became stuck in the ice and it was quite a while before firefighters pulled it out.
McPhee said its not unusual for fire crews to have problems like these during cold spells. "Cold weather is just something we have to deal with.
"When you start fighting fire in extreme cold conditions you just have to basically take what comes along and deal with it at that point in time."
McPhee said most of the larger fires that occur in Yellowknife happen during the winter months so crews just have to be prepared for anything and everything.
