2 injured in Iqaluit shack fire, 1 hospitalized

Two people were injured in an Iqaluit shack fire Tuesday night.

According to the city, the fire department was called to a shack on fire behind Building 2736around midnight.

It took 12 responders two-and-a-half hours to extinguish the fire in the city's east end. The city says a propane tank and a fuel tank exploded during the fire.The buildingwas destroyed.

One of the injured was treated at the scene. The other was taken to hospital. The condition of the person taken to hospital is not known.

Fire officials were not available for an interview.

Some in Iqaluit live in small dwellings, sometimes made out of shipping containers. They are commonly described as shacks. In some cases a lack ofhousing drives residents to live in cramped, unregulated conditions, wherefires are not unusual.

With files from Kieran Oudshoorn