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Rockhill fire investigators face 'difficult' task

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Brendan Burke/NNSL photo Rockhill Apartments on fire this morning.

With few clues left behind, determining the cause of the devastating Rockhill Apartments fire will be challenging for investigators, says the territory’s fire marshal.

“As a result of the fire and the subsequent firefighting operations, very little could be drawn from the physical scene,” NWT Fire Marshal Chucker Dewar told Yellowknifer Wednesday.

“This is going to make determining the cause of the fire very difficult unless additional information comes to light,” added Dewar.

With the fire scene yielding little to help understand what exactly caused the fire that destroyed Rockhill Apartments and displaced more than 80 people, Dewar said the NWT Office of the Fire Marshal is turning to further eyewitness accounts.

“We continue to conduct interviews at this time and obtain statements from emergency responders and tenants, eyewitnesses, in an attempt to understand what occurred,” said Dewar.

Dewar remained confident, however, that the fire began on the building’s first floor, as previously reported.

The Office of the Fire Marshal is continuing to probe the blaze alongside Yellowknife RCMP, he said.

Dewar again ruled out arson as a cause, reiterating a point made early in the investigation.

Dewar called the fire “tragic” and said he urged residents to equip their homes with smoke alarms and extinguishers to safeguard against the “destruction fire causes.”

Anyone with information about the fire is asked to contact the Office of the Fire Marshal at 867-767-9161.