Yellowknife (Dec 22/04) - Part of Franklin Avenue was temporarily cordoned off Thursday night as firefighters battled a truck blaze in the parking lot of the Igloo Inn.

Smoke from the fire was visible from several blocks away and bystanders gathered to watch flames engulf a white Ford F150.

Firefighters brought the blaze under control within five minutes, but the damage to the truck was extensive: the entire front end was a charred mass of metal and glass.

Sean Marchand, a mason from Alberta, and two of his co-workers rented the truck earlier this week.

The three were sitting in their ground floor hotel room when they heard a loud "boom" at around 10 p.m., Marchand said.

They rushed outside to the see the front half of Ford covered in flames. The fire was so intense, Marchand worried it would spread to the newly renovated hotel.

One of his friends quickly opened the driver's side door, threw the truck into neutral and kicked it down a slight hill. "Then we ran like a bastard," Marchand said.

Once the truck came to a stop several metres from the hotel, Marchand tried to snuff the blaze with a fire extinguisher, but was unsuccessful.

A fire crew arrived at the scene a few minutes later and brought the blaze under control quickly.

At the time, Marchand and fire officials were not sure what caused the truck to catch fire, though one firefighter asked whether the vehicle had a remote starter.