INUVIK - What turned out to be a minor fire at a construction site on Friday evening could have been much worse if fire fighters hadn't responded so quickly to the blaze.

Firefighters douse a Genie Lift with foam after it caught fire at a construction site on Veterans' Way and nearly spread to a neighbouring building on Friday evening. - Andrew Rankin/NNSL photos

At about 7:20 p.m., 21 volunteer firefighters arrived at the scene of the fire where two new Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) buildings are currently being built on Veterans' Way.

A Genie Lift located within metres of the MACA archives building at the back end of the site, was engulfed in flames. The other structure adjacent to Veterans' Way was not immediately threatened by the fire.

The heavy equipment vehicle was being used to put siding on the exterior of the building. The fire came dangerously close to igniting sheets of exposed plastic and lumber on the unfinished section of the structure's wall.

"It could have been worse but it turned out not to be a big deal," said Inuvik Fire Chief Al German.

At the time, the machine was unoccupied and its block heater had been plugged in. Dowland Contracting Ltd. is constructing the buildings but none of its employees were on site when the fire started.

At first fire crews used water to battle the flames, which German said extended to the roof of the building, but had to switch to foam in order to extinguish it, which took about a half an hour. Crews arrived back at the fire department at 8:12 p.m.

German said he was unsure what caused the fire, but he added it appeared to have started inside the Genie Lift's battery box. There was also evidence oil had been leaking from the engine.

Earlier that afternoon at about 4 p.m. German said he saw someone trying to un-successfully drive a Genie Lift up Franklin Road where the construction site runs perpendicular. He said the vehicle was spewing smoke and had to be towed.

"It was filling the whole neighbourhood."

He said he couldn't say if that was same machine that caught fire.

Officials from Dowland Contracting did not respond to several interview requests from the Drum.

German said the task of extinguishing the blaze could have been easier if the fire hydrant on the construction site had been hooked up, which is the responsibility of the building owner.

He said he isn't concerned a similar incident might happen anytime soon.

"It was just a freak incident," he said. "If this was happening every week we would probably be looking into it. This is the only one that's happened in the last few years."

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