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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Yellowknife fire department is calling a truck fire suspicious after finding flames shooting out from the open passenger door Thursday evening.

Emergency crews arrived at the scene near Coast Fraser Tower on 52 Street at 10:39 p.m. whereupon police and municipal enforcement officers sectioned off the area and fire crews began to douse the flames.

The fire was contained to the cabin of the truck and was out by 10:45 p.m.

The 1995 Ford F-150 was purchased by owner Mark Charleboris only six months ago.

"I was like, 'Shit! My car is on fire!," said Charleboris, who was alerted to the fire by a neighbour.

"Everything is torched. Everything is melted - the steering wheel, the dashboard, everything. It was a good truck I really liked it."

Allan Kinney said he was driving down the street when he noticed the truck on fire.

"There was a light inside that looked like someone was welding," said Kinney, who was with Heather Rosvold who called emergency services. "As we came up to it we realized it was on fire."

"Someone tried to open the door to see if anyone was in there," said Rosvold. No one was in the truck at the time of the fire.

Charleboris said the truck was vandalized three weeks ago when someone smashed one of its windows. He said he doesn't know if these two incidents are related, if Thursday's fire was indeed arson.

"I have another car but my wife and I thought it would be a good idea to have two cars because we both work at different times," said Charleboris, who works as a manager at Stanton Territorial Hospital in the dietary department. Charleboris said he has insurance.

The fire is currently being investigated by the RCMP and the NWT Fire Marshal's Office, according to fire department press release issued Friday.

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