Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (May 01/01) - The quick actions of a former firefighter averted a major disaster at the Ilagiiktut Centre in Rankin Inlet.

Vandals apparently set fire to the centre's lobby area during the early evening hours of April 9.

Piruqsaijit Ltd. is the property management firm for the Centre. The firm's general manager, Hilary Rebeiro, said the fire was just starting to spread from the lobby when one of the tenants, Ed Kehoe, was on his way out of the building.

Rebeiro said the former firefighter smelled the smoke and spotted the fire before it became too far advanced.

"Ed (Kehoe) ran down the stairs and grabbed a fire extinguisher from the lower floor," said Rebeiro.

"He emptied the first fire extinguisher and still couldn't bring the blaze under control. He then ran upstairs and grabbed two fire extinguishers from that floor, returned to the lobby and extinguished the blaze."

The fire department and the RCMP responded to the call.

Rebeiro said members of both departments told him Kehoe's actions saved the Ilagiiktut Centre from sustaining major damage and prevented the blaze from threatening the safety of those in the building at the time.

"We were very happy to bring Mr. Kehoe in and present him with a token of our appreciation for his brave deed and quick actions."

Kehoe was modest in accepting the award from Ilagiiktut Centre director Rosie Oolooyuk.

"The actions I took were something anyone would have done under the same circumstances I was in," said Kehoe.

"I was well prepared. Having been a firefighter before, I knew what to do to extinguish the fire and to take all the proper safety precautions.

"Although a fire is never anything to fool around with, because of my past experience and training, I never felt like I was in any immediate danger."