I think we all owe the Town of Inuvik Fire Department a great big kudos for their efforts this past weekend putting down a huge fire that destroyed the Inuvik Warming Centre.
Residents were caught off guard when the power went out for much of the town to prevent further complications as flames blasted out of the building.
The fire was so large it could be seen from downtown.
It took 22 hours of sustained effort and attention by 25 firefighters to put out the fire. In temperatures that didn’t get any warmer than -20 C. After photographing the fire, my own fingertips were numb with cold and I needed to use warm water to thaw them out. I was outside for maybe 20 minutes – this crew was at it all night. I can only begin to imagine the difficulty of fighting a fire up close in this weather, with the searing temperatures of the flames one moment and the frozen touch of the north the next, water spraying everywhere, in heavy clothing. It takes a strong person to be a firefighter.
Now that the fire department has dealt with the initial danger, it’s up to the community to follow up for the people now displaced by the fire. For the time being, the people staying at the Warming Centre have relocated to their old building on Berger Street. However, that building is fraught with problems and is not a long-term solution and there aren’t a lot of suitable buildings available.
But it’s a challenge the community is more than capable of rising to.
Over the past few weeks, the Beaufort Delta’s instinct for taking care of one another has been on full display. Beaufort Delta District Education Council switched from teaching to supporting families forced into isolation by the recent Covid-19 outbreak, preparing care packages of food for homes in both Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk. When it became clear an isolation centre was needed to help the people of Tuktoyaktuk contain the spread, volunteers to run it were recruited in less than a day.
Even outside official organizations and agencies, caremongering is well established in this community.
Neighbours stepped up for one-another to pick up groceries, medicines and other essential services when families were unable to do so themselves, allowing parents to give their children the full attention they needed during this difficult period.
As we move into the holiday season and temperatures promise to stay well below freezing for some time, let’s remember to include our homeless in our holiday generosity. People staying at the old Warming Centre will be subject to close quarters and sometimes stressful social situations, two problems which can exacerbate one another. As the NWT Housing Corp. works to determine where it will house the next Warming Centre – and how it will pay for it – the people involved will need our support and our patience.
Living on the street is not easy. Hunger is constant. Keeping warm is paramount to survival, and ways to do that can be few and far between. There are few places where you are welcome and even less things to do to keep occupied.
And for the homeless in Inuvik, things just got an order of magnitude worse.