Yellowknife, CANADA - 1 FF Dead, 1 critical in Roof Collapse

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One firefighter dead, another seriously injured in Yellowknife store fire

 

Canadian Press  

Thursday, March 17, 2005

YELLOWKNIFE -- One firefighter died and another was critically injured Thursday when a roof collapsed as they battled a fire in a shed attached to a Home Hardware store.

The fire began in a small building where lumber is cut, said RCMP Const. Kerri Riehl. The blaze did not spread to the store. Riehl said the two firefighters were in the shed when the roof collapsed on them.  

Witness Bryan Rendell also saw three firefighters fall through the roof.  

It is believed to be the first death in the line of duty in the Yellowknife fire department's history.  

Rendell, 42, said he saw the three men climb onto the roof with a chainsaw, crowbar and a snow shovel.  

He said they cut a hole with the chainsaw and had been there for about five minutes, working on a second hole, when the roof collapsed.  

"Basically all we saw was . . . hard hats flying in the air and this thing fell out from under them," he said.  

"I didn't get too excited. They only fell about 10 feet. I couldn't see what happened after they fell."  

Rendell, who owns a Diamond Glass shop across the street from the hardware store, said he watched what happened from his office window.  

He said smoke was pouring from both ends of the shed and there were police and four fire trucks on the scene.  

He speculated the roof may have collapsed under the combined weight of a large amount of snow and the firefighters.

"When I looked over there, and I saw them over there, my first instinct was, well, there's a lot of weight on that roof, so it probably wasn't the safest place to be."  

Debbie Euchner, a spokeswoman for the City of Yellowknife, said emergency crews took both firefighters to hospital.  

"One firefighter remains in critical condition," she said. "We regret to inform the public that the other firefighter lost his life in the line of duty."

It wasn't immediately clear if the firefighter died in hospital or at the scene, or if other firefighters were injured, said Euchner.  

Yellowknife has a volunteer component to its fire department, but the two men injured in the accident were both full-time employees, Euchner said.  

No names were released until family could be notified. Counsellors were already responding to help city workers deal with their grief.  

Building owner Chuck Corothers said there were two electrical heaters in the roof of the shed. He said damage seemed to be concentrated in the shed's ceiling.

"It's probably one of the heaters that might have caused it," he said.  

Fire department officials were not immediately available to comment on the blaze or how it may have begun.  

Rendell said the shed was used to cut plywood, lumber and mouldings for customers.  

He expressed grief for the fallen firefighters.  

"It's pretty sad, especially in a small-knit community like Yellowknife where everybody knows everybody," he said. "I am sure we will all know who this is, unfortunately."  

Fire crews were called in about 7 a.m. when a municipal enforcement officer stopped a speeder on Yellowknife's Old Airport Road.  

"He noticed the smoke and he called it in," said Riehl.