Yellowknife (Aug 09/06) - The fire that destroyed part of Ecole St. Joseph school last week was the first major test for many new fire department safety procedures.

And according to acting fire Chief Darcy Hernblad, everything worked very well, despite the fact four classrooms and a mini-gymnasium were destroyed in the "Code 3" blaze. That's the highest level of emergency for a fire in Yellowknife.

Max Auger is one of the firefighters present at the St. Joseph school fire last Thursday. He's wearing one of the new sets of bunker gear purchased for the Yellowknife Fire Department this year. It includes a harness that allows for a fallen firefighter to be pulled to safety more easily. - Jessica Gray/NNSL photo

"I couldn't be more proud," said Hernblad. "These guys gave it all they had."

Hernblad said crews thought the fire was under control, but flames got into the walls and flooring. They battled to prevent the fire from getting into the main part of the school.

Under new safety protocols, Hernblad said that when firefighters arrived, a duty chief immediately established a so-called "accountability system" - a list with the names of firefighters and their duties.

This was one of 12 safety procedures ordered by the Workers' Compensation Board following the March 2005 deaths of firefighters Cyril Fyfe and Kevin Olson during a shed fire at Home Building Centre.

"We really worked on our accountability system," he said. The re-evaluated accountability system and its implementation complied with the sixth and seventh orders from the board, which oversees workplace safety.

The 12th order is to have immediate debriefs after a fire. The session was set for yesterday evening. It would have been sooner, said Hernblad, but crews were exhausted. Some of the firefighters and duty chiefs were working to control the fire and on cleanup for 36 hours straight.

The department was also ordered to have a medic and ambulance on the scene, but Hernblad said that was difficult to do.

"There were four ambulance calls," said Hernblad. "There were no more people (to recall to the scene)."

Five of the safety orders are still outstanding and have new timelines for their implementation.