SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A deputy fire chief said Northern Property REIT jumped the gun when it stated in a tenant newsletter that the Yellowknife fire department is considering prohibiting the use of barbecues on apartment balconies.

Northern Property REIT recently advised its tenants that the Yellowknife fire department is considering prohibiting the use of barbecues on balconies, but a deputy fire chief said the property owner erred in its newsletter as such a ban is currently not being discussed. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

Earlier this month, Northern Property REIT delivered a newsletter to its tenants stating "Yellowknife Fire Department is considering prohibiting BBQ's on Balcony! We will keep you posted." But Gerda Groothuizen, deputy fire chief of life safety and prevention, said while her department and NWT fire marshal Stephen Moss are engaged in early discussions about how to prevent balconies from catching fire, they are not considering barring the use of barbecues on balconies.

"I think they got the message wrong," Groothuizen said of the Calgary-based property owner, which has 996 residential units in Yellowknife, according to its website.

Moss also said a ban is unlikely.

"I'd like to think that, at this time, we're not even looking at the possibility of banning the practice, because it would be one of those laws that would be largely unenforceable," he said.

A Yellowknife representative from Northern Property REIT disputed Groothuizen's account.

"How it worked is that we got this comment from the fire department because we called to find out ... if barbecuing was allowed on balconies, officially, and we were told that - this is the quote from the fire department - that they are considering changing that," said the representative, who did not want to be named. "That's what we were told, so we put it in our newsletter."

The fire department recently inspected several Northern Property REIT apartments, during which Groothuizen found fault with the placement of propane tanks on multiple balconies, said the company's representative.

"She gave us a big problem about everyone having their barbecues on the balcony," the Northern Properties employee said.

Groothuizen said many Yellowknife balcony walls are covered in the same type of vinyl siding that caused the May 25 blaze at Coast Fraser Tower to escalate so quickly What Moss and Groothuizen are presently considering, according to both of them, is the installation of non-combustible material on apartment balconies.

"This would be more of a blanket approach," said Moss. "Having said that, obviously in a condo situation, it would more likely fall onto the laps of the condo corp. and each individual tenant (has) responsibilities."

"We're not doing this as punishment. "We're doing this to help save the buildings," said Groothuizen.

Though Groothuizen and Moss are still discussing whether Yellowknife apartment owners like Northern Property REIT would have to pay for the renovations themselves, it won't come cheap, said Groothuizen.

"It will be costly because the property reps will have to assign people to put it up, whether it's their own people or outside contractors, plus the materials themselves, so yeah, it's going to cost some," she said.

Northern Property REIT's representative, while aware of the potential high cost of renovations, did not comment on them.

The company reported net operating income of $87 million in 2009, up from $84 million the year before, with 28 per cent of last year's revenue generated from its NWT properties.

Northern property also operates in Nunavut, Alberta, British Columbia and Newfoundland.

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