Blaze on Lac La Biche Lake after ice hut catches fire

A fire on Lac La Biche lake last night has resulted in one less ice-fishing hut in the county.

A call to the fire department came in at 7:55 p.m. Sunday night regarding an ice-fishing shack totally engulfed in flames. The shack was located in the southern portion of the lake.

No one was injured and the structure was empty at the time the fire started.

Regional Fire Chief John Kokotilo believes the cause of the fire was most likely a wood or propane heater located inside the shack. He also said that fishing huts are often made of plywood or are old trailers so they’ ll burn very easily.

“I’ m just speculating, but the fire was probably due to being heated by a wood stove,” he said. “Most of these things have a wood stove for heating, or a propane heater inside them.”

Kokotilo said fires on the lakes can be very difficult for firefighters to respond to since the fire department will not send their large units out on the ice for insurance purposes.

Instead a one-ton pump, rapid response vehicle was dispatched pulling a quad, but Kokotilo said the fire was already contained thanks to its snowy surroundings.

He said normally crews only use 25 to 30 pound extinguishers for fighting a fire of that size since normally the extinguishers are large enough to put it out.

Trucks were sent out to the fire by 8 p.m. but shortly after Kokotilo called the fire fighters to stand down after receiving a phone call that the fire was already out.

“We got a call from a county employee that the fire was out so I called our firefighters to stand down,” he said. “The trucks were back in service by 8:13 p.m.”