Nunavut woman charged with arson in Yellowknife townhouse blaze

Yellowknife RCMP have charged a woman from Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, in connection with an intense blaze that destroyed eight townhouses in a downtown rental complex last week.

Sheila Jewell, 26, was charged with arson endangering life, as well as mischief endangering life, RCMP Const. Roxanne Dreilich said Monday.

Jewell is expected to make her first court appearance on Tuesday. At that time, Dreilich said, RCMP will ask the court to keep Jewell in custody until a later court date is set, given her primary residence is outside of the N.W.T.

Dreilich said the woman did not live in the building, but was associated with one of the residents living there. Jewell was apprehended by police in downtown Yellowknife on Friday, the day after the fire took place.

According to the Criminal Code, the arson charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Even with the charges, Dreilich said police are still seeking more information in the case.

"We would certainly be interested in speaking with anyone who perhaps we haven't spoken to yet who might have information about the fire in regards to the accused in this case — anything that she may have said to anyone in the hours shortly after the fire; any information as to her whereabouts, or if she uttered any intent to anyone prior to this, those types of things," Dreilich told CBC News.

Officials with Northern Property REIT, which owns Bison Estates, say the tenants of the eight townhouses that were destroyed in Thursday's fire have since been moved into new apartments.

The remaining residents of the building where the townhouses were located were put up in hotels around Yellowknife until late Friday, when they were able to return to their units.

Fire marshal looking into alarm problems

In another development, the Northwest Territories Fire Marshal's Office is looking into why the fire alarm system at Bison Estates did not seem to be working during an intense blaze last week.

The eight townhouses were destroyed after one of the complex's several buildings caught fire early Thursday morning. Tenants in about 10 nearby units were also forced out of their homes temporarily.

Some affected tenants told CBC News they didn't hear alarms going off in their units when the fire began.

"A building that size is required to have an alarm system, and so we'll be looking into exactly what occurred there," Fire Marshal Steve Moss told CBC News on Friday.

"Any building that has more than 10 occupants in it — and that particular building would meet that requirement — must have a fire alarm system for the entire building," he added.

"According to the requirements, it has to be audible in each of the units, so you would have to hear it in the rooms."

Awoke to flames

One tenant told CBC News he never heard an alarm that morning, only finding out something was wrong when his roommate woke him up and they saw flames shooting out of his neighbour's balcony.

Thursday's blaze was so intense that firefighters were unable to save the eight townhouses, located at the southwest end of the building.

Moss said only new buildings are required to have sprinkler systems — the Bison Estates complex is more then 20 years old — but having sprinklers in place would have made a difference.

"A fire doesn't get out of hand like that in buildings that are sprinklered," he said.

Moss said he is also concerned about a fire hydrant that was built into the building's outside walls. A backhoe inadvertently ripped away the hydrant while crews were working on the fire.

There are a few buildings in town that have outside wall hydrants, Moss said, adding that they may not be very helpful when they are attached to a burning building.

The Yellowknife fire department and the Fire Marshal's Office continue to work together on their investigation.