Whale Cove is in a state of emergency after the community's lone store, the Issatik Co-op, burned to the ground during the early morning hours of Friday, Aug. 30.
There were no injuries or fatalities in the blaze.
Former Whale Cove mayor Stanley Adjuk spoke of the urgency to start anew and keep goods flowing into the community in the interim.
“I have no part in what will happen from here, but I hope to see them starting to rebuild right away. We probably still have time for a couple of more sealifts and I'm sure that they can do an emergency one," he said.
“We'll also probably see a lot of vehicles heading to Rankin to pick-up necessities for now.
There was potential for a much worse situation if action hadn't been taken quickly, according to Adjuk.
“During the blaze we had no choice but to have one of our forklift operators go in and move sea-cans away from the burning building, The sea-cans were loaded with propane and Naptha. They were right next to the store, so we had no choice but to move them away from the flames.
The fire also led to a power outage.
“We're in a state of emergency now because that's the only store that we have and it's the only store where the fuel was and food, of course,” said Adjuk. “And it's foggy right now as we speak, so there's no hope for any flights today.
“Getting the sealift going quickly is the key to getting our community back to normal before too many hardships are faced.”
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