Lisa Scott
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 21/05) - The reality of the fire that burned everything his family owned, is just starting to set in for Peter Stiopu.

On a rainy Monday morning, the construction contractor was feeling "about the same as the weather," he said as he sipped a cup of coffee.

Peter Stiopu and daughter Katrina sift through the rubble of their family home on the Dettah access road. They lost everything they owned in the Thursday night blaze and had no insurance. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

He's planning to talk with the Salvation Army about what kind of aid is available for himself, his 15-year-old daughter and his son.

Until he finds out, his family is staying with friends.

Bob Mackenzie, co-ordinator for the Salvation Army, says they have clothes, furniture and other help for the family when they decide to seek it out.

The Stiopu family house, located down a bush road along the Dettah access road, caught fire at about 11:30 p.m. Sept. 15. It went up in flames quickly and was considered a loss by the time Yellowknife Fire Department arrived on the scene.

It's believed the fire started in the mechanical room, but a cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

The loss is about $500,000. He didn't have any insurance.

"We lost everything, everything, everything. We were left with just the clothes on our backs," said Stiopu.

He and his family started working on the property in 1992, building a road to access the waterfront lot on Great Slave Lake.

They started construction on the 4,000 square foot house in 1995, and moved into the building in 1998.

His daughter Katrina and son Matthew are members of the Dettah community and Yellowknives Dene Band.

Chucker Dewar, deputy fire chief for the Yellowknife Fire Department said 12 firefighters were called out to the blaze, but the difficulty of drawing water made fighting the fire a tough task.

"Because of the location and the difficulty in getting apparatus in there, it was a challenge," he said after the late night effort.

Two tanker trucks had to make trips back to the city to fill up before returning to the fire.

According to Stiopu, that effort could have been a bit easier with help from the community of Dettah.

A drive around the community with lights flashing to seek out volunteers didn't garner any interest.

Stiopu knows the community has firefighting capabilities. He was the fire chief up until February of this year.

He had a crew of volunteers, a new $120,000 truck and a procedure for protecting the community from fire.

"I spent a lot of time and effort to build it up," he said.

The state of the department is unclear this week. A sign inside the doors of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation office appeals to residents to be volunteer firefighters.

"Maintaining an active and trained community fire department is important to the safety of our residents and our community," the Municipal and Community Affairs poster says.

Representatives from Municipal Affairs declined to comment about the apparently defunct fire department.

Donations wanted

Yellowknives Dene CEO Gary Lafferty only heard about the fire Friday morning. He says getting volunteers out is the hardest part of keeping the community department going.

He's encouraging all able bodied residents to volunteer.

Yellowknife Fire Department is accepting donations of clothing and furniture for the family.