Fire leaves 21 homeless
Value of units lost far exceeds city fire losses from all of 2016
Beth Brown
Northern News Services
Monday, February 27, 2017
IQALUIT
A fire on the main floor of a six-unit Iqaluit residence left one man injured and 21 people in need of new homes Feb. 19. Firefighters arrived at the home, near the old cemetery, just before 7 p.m.
Firefighters try to control a Feb. 19 fire in Iqaluit that left two units gutted, one person hurt, and 21 homeless. - Casey Lessard/NNSL photo |
It took 22 full-time and volunteer firefighters until nearly 11:30 p.m. to extinguish the flames. They remained on site into the early hours the next morning.
"The cause is suspected smoking material," said Iqaluit deputy fire chief Nelson Johnson.
The fire itself was contained within two units.
"They're totally gutted," Johnson said.
"When we first arrived, we set up cooling lines from the exterior to try to force entry. Once we tried to enter the doorway, we found it was compromised. We had to go into the other apartment and cut through the wall to force our way into the affected side and put the fire out from the inside out."
The building was left uninhabitable, and all residents have been relocated.
"He tried to extinguish the fire and he suffered smoke inhalation," Johnson said of the injured man.
He said the building is valued at around $500,000 and a house fire of this size hasn't occurred in about a year-and-a-half.
The house consisted of four one-bedroom units, three of which were occupied, and two family units, each housing nine people. All but one have been moved to new homes.
Mayor Madeleine Redfern recommended donating to the Red Cross, which covered hotels until homes are found, and will direct any funds to help the victims. Redfern said items could be donated to the Piviniit thrift store, where victims will not be charged for any goods.
The fire follows a Feb. 14 report by director of emergency and protective services Luc Grandmaison, who said monetary fire losses were low in 2016.
Fire services in Iqaluit responded to 336 calls in 2016, though only 42 were fires.
"Thirty-two fires had losses and 10 fires had no losses. It's very low, $138,972 in fire loss," said Grandmaison.
He said this was in part due to the fact that 72 per cent of fires were contained to their room of origin.
"The greater that percentage, the less fire loss in our city," he said.
The report showed the city saw 14 outdoor fires in 2016 and 25 structure fires within buildings.
"Human failing has been the cause of 16 of those 42 fires in 2016."
Most fires were at private homes, and were related to cooking. Three citizens were injured due to fires last year, though no fire deaths occurred.
Grandmaison added during questions from councillors that one nuance that strengthens the Iqaluit fire system is ready access to water due to water service trucks used regularly by the city.
"Firefighters are not involved in transporting water, truck services are. We can assemble at least three mobile water trucks easily at the fire scene."
Trucks from water services, municipal law enforcement and RCMP also aided in emergency response for the Feb. 19 fire.
