While on patrol early in the morning of September 17, 1988, Patrick Gaulton noticed smoke coming from the Northwest Territories Power Commission Power Plant in Resolute Bay. He immediately notified the plant manager who, upon his arrival, shut down the generator which was on fire. While the plant manager ensured that the generator was off, Mr. Gaulton picked up a fire extinguisher and entered the smoke-filled generating room. In zero visibility he located the flaming generator surrounded by a pool of oil and extinguished the fire. Without his intervention, the power plant would have been destroyed, leaving the hamlet without heat, light and communication and navigational systems.