A part of the Dawson City RCMP detachment was set on fire early Wednesday morning.

At around 4 a.m., police learned that one of three detachment garages was engulfed in flames, police said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.

The Dawson City Fire Department was able to douse the blaze, but not before significant damage was done to the garage and an RCMP jet boat stored next to it.

The two other garages and a police vehicle parked next to the boat sustained minimal damage.

The garages are located approximately 24 metres away from the detachment building.

The culprit also flooded the main detachment building's front foyer with a garden hose. He was able to get in by breaking a window.

There was no one working at the detachment at the time. At that hour, there was one RCMP officer on-call.

The detachment phones are forwarded to Whitehorse's 911 operators, who then contact the on-call officer in the event of an emergency.

A Dawson City man was later arrested in connection with the incident after a brief altercation with police.

As a result of the struggle, the suspect and one RCMP officer suffered minor injuries. The officer was treated at the nursing station and the suspect was treated by a nurse at the detachment.

Murdoch Clayton Saunders, 26, formerly of Calgary, was charged with one count of arson, mischief, assaulting a peace officer, resisting arrest and breaking and entering.

Saunders was scheduled to appear in a Dawson court yesterday.

The RCMP have not yet placed a dollar value on the damage that was done. The matter is still under investigation. It is not yet known if alcohol played a factor.

The Dawson detachment main building and other facilities were recently renovated and rebuilt in 2003. They became operational in 2004.