A Saturday fire near the NWT legislature that temporarily closed some Yellowknife roads involved a burning tent pad, a resident who witnessed it said.
Ray Chiasson said he and his wife were heading downtown from the city’s Niven neighbourhood when they saw the fire. Chiasson decided to investigate to make sure nobody had been hurt.
“It was a tent pad that was on fire,” said Chiasson, who described himself as being the first to the scene.
“It was quite easy to see that the entire pad was in flames and that it hadn’t started elsewhere and spread to it,” he said, adding personal items were still on the pad.
The tent pads are a recent construction on an area of undeveloped, forested land near the legislature. They have been placed there by a group of people aiming to create a tent encampment as a safe space for people who have nowhere else to live.
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On Saturday evening, the City of Yellowknife said a fire had been extinguished “near the tent pads” but a spokesperson said no further information, such as the cause of that fire, was immediately available.
“It looked like a campfire had gone bad at first. I mistook the tent pad for a burnt log,” said Chiasson.
“It wasn’t until I walked around to look for anyone that I realized it was the pad.”
Municipal enforcement arrived at the scene soon after, Chiasson said, closely followed by fire crews.
So far, there have been no reports of injuries associated with the fire.
On its website, NWT Fire listed the fire as a “human-caused structural fire” but did not list any further information.
