After home burned to the ground, Dln leadership re-evaluating its fire resources

A family of three lost their home to a fire on Sunday in Dln, N.W.T.

Community leader Leeroy Andre said the former occupants are safe but that all of their belongings were lost to the flames.

The disaster is causing leadership to re-evaluate its resources to deal with fires and how the community can be better equipped for the future.

Andre said it's not clear why, but there wasn't enough water pressure coming from the community's firetruck.

"If the vehicles that we have aren't adequate," he said, "we're going to have these issues all the time."

Andre said Dln has one fire truck andit's about 25 years old. It also has two water trucks to support water supply.

All three vehicles, along with a contractor's water truck, were on site to fight Sunday's fire.

Andre said the community should have an agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to share their wildfire equipment and provide their volunteer firefighters with training on how to use it.

Despite the need to update equipment and training, Andre said that Sunday's house fire was so intense, it might not have made a difference anyways.

"I would say within five minutes there were flames that were two or three meters high shooting out of the roof already," he said. "It went up like just a little matchbox."

RCMP did notrespond to CBC's request for more information.

From talking to the home owner, Andre said a mosquito coil could be to blame.

He suspects a strong wind carried a spark from the coil to the house, which caught on cardboard over the floor.

For now, the grandparents and granddaughter, about 12 or 13 years old, are staying with another family in town but Andre said the community government will work with them to find a more long term solution.

He said Dln recently received money for housing but that they won't be able to access the materials until the winter road opens around the end of February.

He said there are vacant community-owned houses in Dln that need updates that could also be an option for the family in the meantime, as well as the hotel or staffing units.

Since the homeowners don't have insurance, everything in the house at the time is lost.

'Everything is replaceable'

On Monday morning, Andre said the grandfather had been going through the remaining debris to try and salvage some of the pictures stored under the house.

"He's still in shock and it's very devastating."

Andre said the whole community is shaken.

"We've never had a fire like this in a long time and it is very devastating when it does happen . . . and when you lose all your possessions and all you see is charcoal remains."

AGoFundMe campaign for the family has so far raised almost $2,000 as of Monday evening to help replace some of what was lost.

"But everything is replaceable," Andre said. "The most important thing I keep telling them is nobody got hurt."

In addition to logistics, Andre said the community government will try to help the family manage the trauma of the disaster.

"It's a tough thing, but hopefully they can start a new chapter in their lives and move on from there," he said."And, we'll do all we can to try to help that family."