Amanda Vaughan
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, August 22, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Residents of the Polar Developments building at 4503 52 Avenue spent about half an hour mingling in the tower's parking lot after a fire broke out in a third floor apartment just before ten on Sunday night.

The scene at the high rise apartment building might have looked a little dire to passers by that evening, but the situation was under control, and it was business as usual according to Deputy Fire Chief Darcy Hernbladt.

He said the fire department responded with what they call a "group alert" based on the information from the call.

"Sometimes the duty crew will assess the situation and say 'we can handle this' or they will call for assistance, which is the group alert" said Hernbladt, explaining that the standard group alert response consists of two pumpers, a rescue truck and an ambulance.

On the scene, Hernbladt said that the fire appeared to have started on a blanket, and fire crews later determined that the fire was accidentally started by a cigarette.

Hernbladt said firefighters found the resident had put out the fire by the time the fire trucks had arrived, and that the crews just focused on clearing the smoke from the building.

"Our aim now is to just get as much of the smoke and contaminants out of the building and get people back inside as quickly as possible," Hernbladt said on the scene on Sunday night. Fire crews were seen moving large fans called "smoke ejectors" into the building.

Krista Sansom, who lives on the building's first floor, was impressed with the fire department's response.

"We heard the alarm, and by the time we closed our windows and walked down the stairs, the fire trucks were already here," Sansom said on Sunday night.

She also said that she hadn't seen any fire, but that the hallways had smelled "very smoky and yucky."

Crews on the scene were telling residents they could go back into the building by 10:30 p.m., and Hernbladt told Yellowknifer that the fire department had received the call at 9:56 p.m.