Old Town house fire caused by faulty bathroom fan
Fire marshal asking residents to clean ventilation systems of lint and dirt
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The cause of a fire on June 21 that gutted a home on Bretzlaff Drive in the Willow Flats area of Old Town has been determined, according to NWT Fire Marshal Chucker Dewar.
This fire, on June 21 in Old Town, has now been determined to have been caused by a faulty bathroom fan. NWT Fire Marshal Chucker Dewar said the fan failed, arced and ignited lint inside the fan. He is advising residents to clean all their fans, just make sure the power if off first and do not use any solvents to clean them. This fire was the first of four house fires that occurred in the city over a period of three weeks. - NNSL file photo
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"Our investigation determined that a fan in one of the bathrooms failed and arced and actually ignited some lint inside the fan," he said. "It was electrical in nature - that was the source. There is nobody at fault."
An electrical arc is essentially caused by an electrical current ionizing gasses in the air. Lightning is a form of an electrical arc.
Dewar said the lesson to be learned from this fire is that residents should periodically clean out their bathroom fans and make sure that all their electrical equipment is CSA (formerly the Canadian Standards Association) approved.
"Not that this one wasn't but it is important to have that CSA sticker or label on all electrical equipment," Dewar said.
He added that whether it's a bathroom fan, oven fan, furnace fan or drier exhaust, residents should make sure power is disconnected before cleaning.
"You can shut off the fan from your breaker box. You want to make sure your power is down before you expose it," Dewar said. "Then just vacuum it out. You can take a Q-tip to the blades to clean the lint, dust and grime off of them."
Dewar instructed to moisten the Q-tip with a little water and not use any solvents or anything flammable to clean a fan.
"Replace filters if filters are involved - clean out that lint. If something does go wrong it is a potential ignition source that helps the fire grow and spread." he said.
No one was hurt when flames broke out in the home at about 6 a.m. on June 21 - the Aboriginal Day holiday. The home was owned by well-known local land owner and developer Les Rocher. The fire was the first of four house fires in the city in a span of just over three weeks. No one was hurt in any of the fires but all four homes were extensively damaged.
Firefighters had to battle two of the blazes without the benefit of fire hydrants. That included the fire on Bretzlaff as well as one on Canada Day at a home on Enterprise Drive in Kam Lake. There are no underground water lines in Old Town or Kam Lake, meaning fire crews had to bring in their own tankers with water to fight the fires. The fire on Enterprise Drive was determined to have started by careless smoking.
A fire on Moyle Drive in Niven Lake, just two days after the Bretzlaff fire, was likely caused by hot roofing operations, according to the fire marshal.
