In 2013, Nunavut saw highest fire numbers in five years: fire marshal

Fires across Nunavut claimed one life and resulted in $4.3-million worth of damages in 2013, says a report tabled in the Nunavut legislature Oct. 22.

Nunavut’s 161 fires in 2013 represented the most fires in one year over the past five years, according to the 2013 Office of the Fire Marshal’s annual report, put out by the territory’s community and government services department.

But, despite those high numbers, actual fire loss dropped significantly last year: fires cost the territory $17-million in 2012 and more than $53-million in 2011.

Fires claimed six lives in 2012, and none in 2011.

Incendiary fires, human-ignited fires usually by matches or a lighter, represented the most common cause of reported fires — about 36 per cent. Incendiary fires, one fifth of which were deemed ‘suspicious’, resulted in a loss of $1.7-million in 2013.

Fires caused by human failing, that is, being unaware or ignorant of starting a fire, ranked as the second highest cause of fires in Nunavut in 2013: about one third in total.

One of these fires, however, which ignited from cooking equipment, resulted in the only fire-related fatality that year — a 65-year-old Cambridge Bay woman, in April 2013. Seven others were injured in the fire.

Mechanical and electrical fires accounted for about 17 per cent of all fires in 2013, resulting in an overall loss of $1.5-million. Eight of these 26 fires started in central heating units.

More than 78 per cent of all fires in Nunavut took place in the Baffin region, but the dollar loss in that region was virtually equal with the Kivalliq region, where only 14 per cent of Nunavut’s fires occurred.

Baker Lake, where six fires were reported in 2013, sustained the highest dollar loss of any Nunavut community at $1.4-million.

Most fires in all three regions occurred during the day, between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.