Fire consumes house in Inuvik, N.W.T.
Everyone in house able to escape
A house in Inuvik, N.W.T., caught fire Tuesday afternoon.
Everyone was able to get out of the house. Earlier reports said a family dog did not make it out of the house, but CBC News later learned the dog has been found and is recovering.
Fire chief Jim Sawkins said the cold temperatures caused problems for the volunteer firefighters because they couldn’t get the water to flow in the –35 weather.
"We had a hydrant that froze up on us when we tried to connect in and then, of course, right after that, the pumper froze up and we had to switch trucks. The water supply was a major problem. We’re going to have to learn to overcome that here in the North," he said.
The split-level house on Gwich’in Road was completely destroyed.
Crews remain at the scene and they are dousing the house with water to prevent the fire from spreading to other properties.