Yellowknife (Jan 19/05) - The Yellowknife Fire Department says they have no idea what caused a spectacular blaze that entirely engulfed an Old Town garage, Tuesday morning.

Deputy fire chief Clem St. Croix said the department will start sifting through the ashes this morning. Right now, he's just glad nobody got hurt.

Spectators heard lots of popping sounds as ammunition stored in the warehouse exploded in the intense heat. The fire was still smouldering at nightfall. Below, water was trucked in from a hydrant near the racquet club, about a kilometre away, to help put out the fire. - Chris Puglia/NNSL photos

The three-bay garage at 3520 MacDonald Dr. was owned by the Department of Fisheries, and stocked with boat motors, gerry cans of fuel, paint, solvents, and rifle ammunition.

The bullets were heard popping off by neighbours across the street.

"There was quite a bit of Class-B type of fuels in there," said St. Croix.

"That kind of stuff definitely would've added to the fire, and posed a difficulty putting it out."

With no hope of saving the building, about 20 firefighters worked to control the inferno.

A tanker ferried water to the site from a hydrant nearly a kilometre away, near the racquet club, as ambulances waited on scene.

Ron Allen, DFO area director for the Western Arctic, said no one was working in the building when the fire broke out.

An employee was on site at 7 a.m. but did not go inside and there was no evidence of fire at the time.

Allen said the garage is primarily used during the summer months to maintain DFO's boats, which were not being stored in the building.

"It's a significant loss. As a government agency we don't have insurance," said Allen.

To replace the building, the department will have to apply for capital funding, which he said may take a while because the budget is tight.

Allen did not comment on the cost of damage to the 40-year-old building.

"I wouldn't even hazard to guess. In this town things aren't cheap," he said.

David Connelly, who lives across the street from the DFO workshop, said he'd just gotten out of the shower when he heard what sounded like crackling metal.

"When I looked out, the flames were probably 15 to 25 feet above the roof," he said.

John Alexander was in his home two doors down.

"It was pretty wild, my power started flickering on and off," he said.

Before he knew what was happening his phone started ringing off the hook as other Old Town residents called to find out whether he could see what was going on.

First to spot the flames

While all Connelly could see at first was smoke, Kathleen Thuroo and Dave Patton were on the job at Guy Architects, directly across the street from the fire, and were among the first to see the flames as they licked through the building's roof.

"It was like really loud popcorn popping," said Thuroo. What she could hear was the sound of ammunition exploding from the extreme heat.

"As soon as I spotted it, I ran to the phone to call the fire department," said Patton. "But the police arrived at about the same time."

The fire spread quickly, the pair said, estimating it went from unnoticeable to fully-engulfing the building in only 10 to 15 minutes.

Alexander has lived in his Great Slave Lake waterfront home for the past 14 years.

"I've never seen anything like this," he said. "In the old days, once a year a shack would burn down, but there are hardly any shacks left nowadays."

People clustered together on Pilot's Monument while others drove vehicles onto the ice immediately behind the structure for a less-smoke-filled view.

From the ice it was clear just how fast the building went up in flames.

"Look," said spectator Lloyd Lush, pointing to a pair of pickup trucks trapped in the fiery scene. "They never even had time to pull those trucks out."