Firefighters pry open tenants' doors
Department says forced entry necessary to ensure safety during apartment fire
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, December 17, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Niven Lake man said he is grateful for the quick response by firefighters after a suspicious fire in his apartment building, but questions why his door had to be pried open while tenants were left standing outside in the cold.
The fire department forced open some doors in a building at 97 Niven Drive during a fire to ensure no one was left inside. |
The man, who asked not to be identified, was in his third floor unit at 97 Niven Drive on Friday evening when fire broke out in an apartment on the floor below. The man said the fire alarm went off about 8 p.m., forcing dozens of tenants out into the cold. The man said the fire department arrived "pretty quickly" and wasted little time bringing the blaze under control. But he said the tenants of the building, owned by Northern Property REIT, were left shivering in the cold in front of the building without anybody telling them when they would be let back into their homes.
Some of his neighbours weren't dressed for the cold weather, while other tenants were left outside holding onto their pets, trying to keep themselves and their cats warm, he said. There seemed to be confusion between the fire department and the building management as to who would give the all-clear allowing them to return to their homes, the tenant said.
"We didn't receive any instructions from the fire department, the RCMP or building management," he said.
"Some people just drove away while I was eventually picked up by a friend. He said a bus did arrive at the scene to provide temporary shelter from the cold but only after a considerable length of time. In Yellowknife, I think they have to have a bus ready for a situation where an entire apartment building has to be evacuated."
The man said he was shocked upon his return to his unit to see his front door pried open.
"It seemed like most of the units had their doors forced open," he said.
Nalini Naidoo, the city's communications director, who speaks on behalf of the fire department, stated in an e-mail that the fire department's incident commander at the scene decided to enter the units to ensure no residents were still inside. The master key did not open some of the units during primary and secondary searches but she added that is not unusual. The city will be working with Northern Property to address the master key problem, she wrote.
Naidoo added that she didn't know how long it took for the school bus to arrive to shelter evacuees from the cold, but stated it would have taken some time as the fire department needed to contact someone after-hours to get a driver and a bus to the scene. Naidoo said the fire was contained to one room inside the apartment and that no other units were damaged. The tenant says he's perplexed, however, why firefighters didn't ask residents standing outside whether anybody was still in their units.
"I don't understand why my door had to be smashed down when I was right out front and could've told them there was no one else in my unit," the man said.
"My apartment is a flight up and at the other end of the hall. It didn't appear that it was in any threat from the fire.
"A worker, I believe who was from Northern Property, arrived on Saturday to install a temporary lock on my door. He told me it would probably be six weeks before the damaged door is fixed permanently."
Naidoo stated no one was injured in the fire. No damage estimate has been released. RCMP Const. Elenore Sturko stated in a news release that the fire is suspicious. An investigation into the cause of the fire is being conducted by the NWT Fire Marshal's office along with the RCMP.
