Fire destroys home in Inuvik after firefighters declare all-clear

An Inuvik home burned to the ground this weekend — even after firefighters left the scene, "confident that the fire was out."

The fire department originally responded to the call just after 9 o'clock Saturday night. Twenty-four firefighters tackled the flames at the home on Arctic Road.

"We cleared scene at about quarter to 12 and were confident that the fire was out," said Inuvik's director of protective services, Jim Sawkins.

The home, he said, appeared then to be intact and repairable.

"But just before 6 o'clock the following morning we were called out to a fully engulfed fire and it happened to be the same structure, and it appeared that there was possibly some undetected burning in the floor that had carried on after we left."

Sawkins says only the attached shed survived the fire. "The house itself is pretty much gone."

According to Sawkins, the fire is not suspicious "by any stretch."

"It's unfortunate because I was going to go back the following morning to take my series of pictures and conduct the full fledged investigation. Now I've got to play it by memory ... of what we saw the night before."

No one was hurt in the fire. The homeowners had already left the scene; they were the ones to make the second call to the fire department Sunday morning.

Sawkins estimates it would cost $300,000 to $400,000 to rebuild.