The call came in at 6:30 a.m. to go to Mulco Ltd. garage, but the fire there was already burning hard.

"Flames were shooting 15 to 20 feet above the building," says RCMP Const. Phil Reddy of the fire.

Mulder lives across the street. "It was a sad sight to see," he said.

Dealing with the destruction the next day was tougher. "I feel drained," Mulder said.

"I tried to do some work, but I was just spent. I didn't sleep much, thinking about what had happened."

The building employed eight full-time and up to 30 casual workers. No one was injured, but the building was destroyed.

Kugluktuk will feel the loss for a while. Mulco is the main operation in the town where everyone goes to get their vehicle fixed.

But work will continue. Mulder has a number of off-site projects to keep almost all his people going.

In the meantime, Mulder has to plan how to operate his business without an office and mechanical shop.

"It'll take a bit of time. Right now we're assessing the damage," he said.

A blizzard hampered firefighting efforts and threatened to blow the fire onto surrounding buildings.

Temperatures were in the -25 C range, not including wind chill.

Wet conditions added to the challenges.

"The local fire department did an excellent job fighting the fire," Const. Reddy says.

"There might have been a little heat damage."

"It was bad," Mulder said of the fire's havoc.

"I have to give these guys credit. They were fighting a fire in a shop with tires and flammables in it. I'm grateful no one was hurt and no other properties were damaged."

The fire could have been explosive.

A collection of oil drums were of concern to firefighters, but a constant stream of water on them prevented any mishap.

Mulco Ltd. lost all its contents, including three vehicles: a W30 loader, a pickup truck belonging to the Co-op store, and a Hyster forklift.

"No estimate was available for damages.

"We salvaged nothing. It was a total write-off. We have space in a another building for an office, but we really need the shop," Mulder said.

In the next while, decisions will have to be made to fly in needed equipment now or wait until barge time

"We're still in business," Mulder says to his community.

"Just bear with us for a week. Thanks for all the support from across the community."