Colville Lake (Oct 23/06) - Brothers Phillip and Pierre Codzi got an unpleasant surprise when they arrived at their bush cabin.

"Their cabin was destroyed by a fire," said Barry Gully, who works in the Colville Lake band office. "No one was hurt. It happened when nobody was there."

With the arrival of trapping season in the northern-most reaches of the Sahtu, the brothers had gone out to the site with their nephew, John Blancho Jr., when they discovered the structure, which they were in the process of building, was gone.

"They had the logs up and the roof on, but they still needed to insulate it and put in the floor," said resident George Oudzi. "They said it looked like a forest fire was to blame."

The Oudzi brothers returned to the community briefly after discovering the damage, but then went back out on the land after picking up a tent and various other supplies.

The territorial government pays trappers up to $5,000 when cabins are lost.

"That's supposed to cover the building and its contents, but we do look at these on a case-by-case basis," said Francois Rossouw, manager of fur trapping and traditional economy with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI). "Obviously if they had a lot of equipment in there, the amount paid out could go higher."

In the case of losses resulting from a forest fire, ENR is responsible for any compensation. If it was caused by something else, problems with a woodstove for example, then ITI takes over the compensation process after the brief investigation by ENR, said Rossouw. The Oudzi's claim is currently being handled by ENR.