A pile of charred two-by-fours circled by blackened pines are all that's left of Shawn Johnnie's home.

Perched off the Long Lake Road on the east side of the Yukon River on Kwanlin Dun First Nation land, the one-room cabin was the carver's ticket out of homelessness, but a fire on Wednesday changed that.

The Whitehorse Fire Department's report listed the structure as a "shed”, but it was much more than that, say Johnnie's friends.

"Shawn is a really shy, quiet guy, so I think when (the firefighters) talked to him, he said, ‘Oh it's just a shed,'” Shelly Stevens told the Star today.

"I think maybe he was a little bit scared to tell them it was his home, but he really didn't have any reason to be afraid. He had every right to be there.”

In fact, Johnnie had been using the 10-by-12-foot building as a place to keep his tools and do his carving for some time.

"But it wasn't good enough for him to live in the winter,” said another friend, Chris Stevens.

"So just before Christmas, me and a few of my friends pulled together and built him this place so he could have a nice clean, warm place to live.”

They installed the door last weekend, Chris said, and added a lockup for Johnnie's tools and materials.

"Here's a guy that's been trying to get his life on track for the last year and it all goes up in flames,” Chris said.

Literally everything was destroyed Wednesday afternoon when a fire believed to be caused by a malfunctioning space heater burned through the little house.

Today, the remains of an old oil heater could be seen at the centre of the burnt-out floor.

Now Johnnie's friends are hoping others in the community can pitch in to help replace the things he lost.

"His clothing situation is pretty bad – he's got no dishes, he's got nothing,” Chris said.

"He started out with next to nothing and now he's got a whole lot of nothing. Half his carving tools are gone, and that's how he makes his living.

"I've given all I can, and I figured maybe there's some charitable people out there who could step in.”

"I'm wondering if we can ask for donations that can help him get his life back together,” Chris' wife, Misty Dawn Beazley, said in an e-mail to the Star

"He will be willing to pick up anything anyone is willing to donate.”

Donations can be made through Chris Stevens, who can be reached at 333-0249.

Carmacks couple faces similar plight ... p. 3.