Cambay “a disaster” fire chief says

JOHN THOMPSON

Faulty smoke alarms, broken sprinkler systems and emergency exits that won’t open: these are just a few examples of how the hamlet of Cambridge Bay regularly flouts fire safety regulations, according to its fire chief for five years, Peter Laube.

“It’s a disaster here,” he said.

Laube sent a letter to the hamlet’s council in late February with a long list of concerns, after a meeting with other firefighters. He says they’re tired of the hamlet turning a blind eye to safety concerns that have been reported for years.

“Nothing ever gets done and things just keep getting worse,” he wrote.

Besides being responsible for maintaining its own buildings, the hamlet also holds the GN contracts to keep public buildings up to code.

That includes the high school, where the emergency lights haven’t worked for the past two years. “That’s an automatic school shut down, right now,” Laube said.

As well, after a recent storm Laube says he found every exit to the school blocked by snow drifts, save one, only open half-way. He says he fears what might happen to the 240 children inside if there were a fire.

Some of those doors wouldn’t open anyhow, because their handles had been removed. For months a sign marked “Do not open, waiting for parts” hung on the gym doors, until Laube threatened to close the gym. Laube says the SAO’s solution was to remove the broken handles entirely.

What’s more, the hamlet’s fire hall is falling apart, said Laube. The roof of the fire hall has leaked for years, causing drywall to crumble and water to drip inside the light fixtures. Snow drifts beneath the garage door, which doesn’t have weather stripping.

A recent call almost spelled disaster, when a fireman slipped and fell on ice and was almost run over by the fire truck. “I saw his hand go up, and I grabbed the driver,” Laube said.

While hamlet workers use a back hoe to clear snowdrifts from garages holding water and sewage trucks, Laube says snow keeps piling in front of the neighbouring fire hall until volunteer firefighters clear it themselves.

The blocked entrance could have resulted in at least one death, according to Laube’s letter. He wrote that firefighters received a call from a resident with breathing trouble. After struggling to open their garage door, the firefighters found a large drift blocking their path. When they finally arrived at the patient’s home 25 minutes later, it was too late — the resident had died.

Many buildings around the hamlet could meet the same fate of the community hall, which was badly damaged by fire last year and only recently reopened. That’s because most buildings don’t have a working autodialer, which calls the fire department when a fire alarm is triggered, said Laube. In other cases the autodialer works, but its phone line has been cancelled.

And inside the old health centre, which is still in use, Laube said the water pump for the sprinklers lies in rusty pieces on the floor.

Chemical fires caused by an airplane crash could be difficult to fight as well. Foam used to fight such fires is five to 10 years past its shelf life, according to Laube’s letter.

Meanwhile, if you run your hand beneath the fuel tanks on the edge of town, it’ll come away wet with diesel fuel. “They’re on the verge of rupturing,” Laube said.

Laube says progress is only made with the SAO, Mark Calliou, after screaming matches and threats of approaching the RCMP to press charges of criminal negligence.

“It shouldn’t be like that,” he said.

Michelle Gillis, Cambridge Bay’s mayor, said she couldn’t comment until she met with the SAO, who was on travel duty. “We haven’t come up with a response yet,” she said.

As for complaints filed with the hamlet’s assistant fire inspector, “It goes on his desk, and it ends there,” Laube said.

Tim Hinds, the territory’s acting fire marshal, did not respond to requests for an interview by the weekly deadline for Nunatsiaq News.