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Four fires investigated Rash of fires near Blueberry Patch deliberately set
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, July 25, 2013
INUVIK
A rash of fires over the past few days has the Inuvik Fire Department on edge and the Fire Marshal's office investigating.
Inuvik Fire Chief Jim Sawkins at the scene of one of the recent fires on Inuit Road. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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Fire Chief Jim Sawkins said the department has responded to a series of fires on Inuit Road near the Blueberry Patch since Saturday morning.
The first fire was extinguished in one of the derelict buildings which is under a repair order by the Fire Marshal's office, early Saturday morning. Sawkins said that fire was a relatively small one, but with every indication it was deliberately set.
Inuvik firefighters also responded to a fire on Kugmallit Street later Saturday. A truck near a multi-unit residential building directly across from the earlier fire had gas splashed on it and then set ablaze, he said.
Sawkins said that fire is a reminder for people to secure their gas cans away from easy public access. The fire chief said it appeared whoever set that fire simply grabbed a nearby container and dumped it on the truck before lighting it.
The department was back at the complex of abandoned buildings for a more serious fire in a derelict building at the other corner near Inuit and Raven roads Monday at around 8:40 p.m.
"It was quite a large fire," the fire chief said.
Sawkins said it required almost three hours of work to extinguish and the fire had spread along the broken-down firewalls between units 9 and 11.
He said dozens of people turned out to watch the blaze. The town has been trying to have the buildings either fixed or torn down for several years unsuccessfully. Contrary to other media reports, Sawkins said he didn't hear any cheering from the crowd.
He said squatters and transient residents frequently break into the buildings, and that meant firefighters had to determine whether anyone was inside.
"The reality is that it has been used by squatters," he said.
Once it was established the building was empty, Sawkins said he directed his firefighters to douse the building and surrounding units heavily with water to prevent the flames from spreading.
In situations such as this, where a fire involves a derelict building with no one it, he said the department takes a cautious, defensive approach to battling the blaze.
"There's a tipping point as to whether we send firefighters in," he said. "But we can't simply let a building burn down either. We're in the firefighting business, but the safety considerations is something we want the public to understand."
The unit where the fire started sustained serious damage, but the building itself was not gutted. Instead, it has been heavily saturated with water.
Early Tuesday morning another fire broke out on a rear staircase at nearby 38 Kugmallit Road, which does have residents but the unit involved was unoccupied. Sawkins said. Sawkins was the first person to arrive on scene and said he saw obvious signs of an accelerant being used to start it.
The Fire Marshal is now investigating the fires, along with the RCMP.
At the major fire at the Inuit Road complex, Sawkins said he spotted someone who appeared to be trying to slip away from the scene unnoticed.
The RCMP apprehended the person a short time later. Sawkins said he believed the person was taken into custody, but no information has been released by the RCMP.
He wouldn't speculate as to whether all of the fires were linked, although he said most of the buildings involved have the same owner.
Last year, a series of minor fires occurred in town, resulting in charges being laid against several youth.
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