 | Home page |  | Text size |  | E-mail this page |
Fire damages office building Inuvialuit Regional Corporation premises affected,
electricity suspected cause
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, August 29, 2013
INUVIK
"It could have been so much worse."
A group of people, led by Inuvik Fire Chief Jim Sawkins, prepare to enter the fire-damaged Inuvialuit Development Group building on Mackenzie Road Aug. 26 for an inspection. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
|
That sentiment by Nellie Cournoyea, the president of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, was echoed by numerous people following a serious fire at the Inuvialuit Development Group building early in the morning of Aug. 26.
Inuvik Fire Chief Jim Sawkins was the first on the scene of the fire at approximately 1:54 a.m.
"There were flames coming out of the roof about 12 feet high," he said. "We had two pumpers, a ladder truck and a rescue truck on scene as well."
The fire was phoned in to the department by a passerby. Sawkins said neither the fire alarm nor the sprinkler system activated because the fire started in the wall of an office following what he believed was an electrical problem.
"I sent a crew in on the third floor and it turned out the fire originated in the office right there and punched through the ceiling," he said, pointing to the most heavily damaged section of the building.
The fire was fought for approximately five hours, Sawkins said. It was finally declared extinguished at 7:11 a.m. The fire department left the scene at that point.
Sawkins returned with Rick Lindsay, the local NWT Fire Marshal representative, to inspect the damage and determine the cause, at approximately 9:30 a.m.
Two hours later, Sawkins was satisfied that the fire was indeed electrical in origin.
"We have a lot of water damage on the third floor and it is coming down into the second," he said. "We needed a large amount of water to get ahead of the fire originally."
The firefighters were able to protect much of the computer and electronic equipment in the various offices with tarps, Sawkins said. The valuable artwork and crafts were also protected as much as possible.
"We deployed approximately 20 tarps and we were able to compile the office contents and so forth and to protect them," he said.
He estimated the damage at between $500,000 and $750,000, much of it structural.
Cournoyea said she was notified of the fire after 2 a.m. by a call from Tuktoyaktuk. A relative of the person who called her was a passerby who spotted the fire, and contacted the man in Tuktoyaktuk who called Cournoyea.
"A lot of credit has to go to the fire department," she said. "It was an amazing job on their end. It could have been a lot more serious than it was.
"We're just trying to get set up now and get back to business making sure people can phone and get a hold of us."
Some temporary office space had already been set up by lunchtime Aug. 26 in the Inuvialuit Cultural Society building near the Nova Inn, Cournoyea said. Other space was expected to be set up in the next few days.
Cournoyea said the corporation's gift shop had been recently moved to the first floor, so it escaped the damage.
The building also houses the NWT Housing Corporation offices, Inuvik Gas, and the Inuvialuit Development Corporation offices.
Cournoyea said the housing corporation and IDC sections also suffered some water damage, but might be able to re-open with a minimum of work.
Alana Mero, the regional director for the housing corporation, said she had made arrangements for use of space in the Aurora Research Institute for the next week or two while the CDG building is assessed.
The Inuvik Gas offices may have gotten off with little damage, but general manager Kevin MacKay said he needed to have a closer inspection before commenting further.
Denny Rodgers, the building manager, said it looked as if it would be possible to restore power to the first two floors fairly quickly.
"The main damage is on the third floor," Cournoyea said. "The first floor is not much affected at all."
She said she hoped the damage could be cleaned up fairly quickly, although she acknowledged that repairs were likely to take some time.
"A lot of the damage is to the building, so it's going to be a fairly big number to do the work," Cournoyea said.
A steady stream of onlookers stopped by the building throughout the morning and all expressed surprise at the fire.
| 
