A vehicle caught fire on Wednesday evening in Iqaluit, causing a large blaze and a plume of black smoke that could be seen across the city.
The vehicle, a Chevy Tahoe, was parked outside Building 187 on Queen Elizabeth, just down the street from Ventures, a local grocery store. It caught fire around 7:15 pm, and within minutes, it was engulfed in flame, and its original colour was no longer discernible.
Firefighters and police arrived at the scene of the fire in minutes. There were two full-sized fire trucks on the road, and personnel put the blaze out soon after their arrival. No injuries occurred, according to a City of Iqaluit spokesperson, however, residents of nearby buildings—several of whom had their windows open—may be smelling smoke for some time.
It is not clear at this time what started the fire, and the incident is being investigated.
Even the first people to arrive on the scene were unsure what happened.
“We just saw the smoke and ran here,” one woman said.
“I saw the smoke and came,” said another spectator, who noted that there had been lots of people around at the time.
While local police were quick to stop traffic of either end of the block, a crowd of well over 100 pedestrians had gathered by the time the blaze was put out, taking pictures and videos of the blackened vehicle as it dripped water. Many of them were children who had been playing outside Nakasuk School down the street, but authorities were able to keep the crowd at a distance while the fire was active.