Ex-Nunavut fire marshal alleges Creekside fire could have been avoided

Nunavut’s former fire marshal Tony Noakes says the Feb. 26 Creekside Village fire in Iqaluit could have been prevented if the GN followed up on recommendations he made in 2009. (FILE PHOTO)

Tony Noakes, Nunavut’s former fire marshal, alleges that the recent row house fires in Iqaluit were “a senseless tragedy that could have been avoided.”

And Noakes, who lost his job with the Government of Nunavut in May 2010, has taken aim at his former employer for not implementing recommendations he said he made in 2009, recommendations he said could have prevented the Feb. 26 blaze that killed two and level 22 units in Iqaluit.

“This is the second large-scale fire that has hit Iqaluit with a year,” Noakes said. “In both cases, the properties affected were known to have issues regarding fire safety.”

Noakes said the 35-year-old rowhouse units that burned weren’t fitted with fire-resistant separation walls between them, although some structural upgrades were done to the buildings in recent years.

In his 2009 report to the department of Community and Government Services, Noakes said he made a number of recommendations.

One asked that authority be given to assistant fire marshals to issue fines and impose restrictions if construction of buildings is not in accordance with the national building code or the Fire Prevention Act.

Noakes also called for each of Nunavut’s regions to employ its own fire inspector.

Another recommendation was for the GN acquire publicly-owned buildings from the communities and retrofit them to meet safety standards, in cases where communities are not able to carry the cost themselves.

Noakes alleges that when he presented his report, he was told by a senior CGS bureaucrat to “let them burn (the people) and the government might act…”

But in a March 7 statement from Community and Government Services, the department says that Creekside Village has never been on a flagged list of properties under investigation or to be inspected by the Office of the Fire Marshal.

“The GN will not make speculative statements regarding the cause of the fire that is still under investigation by the RCMP and the Office of the Fire Marshal, such is the situation involving the Creekside Village tragedy,” the news release said.

CGS said landlords have an obligation to ensure that buildings are kept up-to-date on fire protection requirements as part of their insurance requirements.

“The lessees also have obligations within the terms of the lease to ensure that properties are used and maintained in a safe environment,” the department said.

The statement also said the GN fire marshal does not normally have the authority to inspect privately-owned apartment buildings without the consent of the owner or occupant and a warrant.

CGS minister Lorne Kusugak told the Nunavut legislature March 2 that incidents of fire were on the rise across the territory.

Specific details won’t be available until the release of the fire marshal’s 2011 report, Kusugak said.

In the meantime, he said CGS continues to review the territory’s fire safety act and plans to bring forward an updated building code act.

Noakes, who now lives in southern Ontario, was let go as fire marshal in 2010.

He alleges he lost his job for asking too many questions about the safety of buildings across the territory, including the overcrowded Baffin Correctional Centre.

And now, he’s taken to several southern media outlets to share his concerns with the rest of the country.