FORT SIMPSON - A fire in a derelict car has raised renewed concerns about the state of a property situated on the main street in Fort Simpson.

On July 14 a seven-year-old boy set fire to a car parked on Leo (Yanny) Cordero's lot which is located across the street from the Liidlii Kue First Nation's band office.

A child set fire to this derelict car parked on a lot on the main street of Fort Simpson. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The fire was reported around 3 p.m. and the volunteer fire department responded, said Pat Rowe, the fire chief.

The 14 members of the department who arrived at the scene of the fire found the off-white car in flames.

"It was fully engulfed when we got there," said Rowe.

Smoke from the fire rose in a black column that could be seen from around the island and also on top of the hill, Rowe said. The department quickly put the fire out.

Extra caution was used by the firefighters due to the condition of the lot.

"You don't know what you're facing in a trash fire," said Rowe.

"The area is totally unsafe for just about anybody. It's definitely unsafe for the public."

Rowe cautioned that parents should keep their children away from the property.

Cordero used the property to operate a gas station and a garage, which are both currently closed. The lot contains more than 25 vehicles including a variety of cars, trucks, vans and a small school bus. The windows and windshields on most of the vehicles have been broken.

Cordero, who's currently visiting family in Vancouver, said that he heard about the fire when Bob Hanna phoned him during the event.

"What can I do? I'm so far away," Cordero said was his reaction.

Cordero said he doesn't see a problem in having that many vehicles stored on the lot. The lot is zoned for light industrial and it was a garage so cars are supposed to be parked there, he said.

"Why they put the finger on me all the time?" Cordero asked.

Cordero said he has owned the property for about12 years and some of the vehicles were already there when he arrived. The problem, said Cordero, is not that the vehicles are there, but that the RCMP are not policing the community properly.

The vehicles have been there for a number of years and only in the past few years have there been problems with people vandalizing them, he said.

"They are the law and they have a responsibility to do something," he said about the RCMP.

Cordero said he'd be returning to the community around July 23 and at that time would look at what can be salvaged from the vehicles. He said he might be able to move some of them elsewhere.

Even if the vehicles are moved, Cordero said that without more action from the RCMP vandalism will just happen somewhere else in the community.

"It doesn't matter (if it's) my car or somebody else's," said Cordero.

The property in question has been an ongoing problem in the community, said Sgt. Cliff McKay with the Fort Simpson RCMP detachment.

RCMP officers have dealt with a number of occasions where youth have been hanging out on the lot.

"Right now it's a playground for children," said McKay.

McKay said that while they recognize the lot is a problem, the detachment doesn't have the staff to constantly monitor it. There are also more pressing things happening in the community, he said.

"We do what we can to try and prevent these things but children are children and we don't have time to police just one property," said McKay.

Common sense should prevail, said McKay. He suggested that if the lot is going to be used as a compound to store vehicles, a fence should be erected around it. Property owners have to take responsibility for their own lots, he said.

In the case of the fire, the RCMP and the fire department are working together to deal with the seven-year-old boy that lit the blaze. He will be taking a counselling program with Fire Chief Pat Rowe that is used for young children who have lit fires, said McKay.

The vehicles stored on the property might soon be taken care of by the village.

At the village council meeting on July 16, Tom Matus, the village's senior administrative officer, said that he had been informed a fire order will be issued on July 19 from either the Office of the Fire Marshal in Yellowknife or the local assistant fire marshal.

A fire order dictates that a property owner has a certain amount of time to rectify a public safety hazard, usually 30 days, said Matus. If the vehicles have not been cleared away by that time the village will have the legal right to step in and remove them.

"It's going to be effected to the fullest of the law," said Matus.

For some councillors, the cleanup cannot come soon enough.

"This has gone on for years and years and it's fallen on deaf ears," said Coun. Bob Hanna.

"Clean the bloody lot up and get it over and done with."

Mayor Ducan Canvin said that action will be taken.

"I assure you this will get done," said Canvin.