The RCMP's major crimes division is investigating a fire that destroyed a home in Teslin last Friday morning.

At the same time, police are dealing with a complaint as to how they handled the incident, according to Whitehorse RCMP Sgt. Don Rogers.

One person is in custody, and Rogers is releasing few details of the evening's events.

He did tell the Star that officers in Teslin were called to the first of two fires at the same residence at about 5 a.m. Friday.

"There was a fire in the bedroom of one of the occupants of the home and there were no indications the fire was deliberately set,” Rogers told the Star . "One resident remained in the home and the other resident requested to be taken to another place.”

After dropping off the one resident, the police returned past the home, which was now engulfed in flames.

Rogers also acknowledged that a family member laid the complaint against the police, but could not provide any more information.

"Since (the fire and the complaint) are under investigation, I can't comment on those allegations.”

Francis McClements, the daughter of Isabel McClements and sister of Jenna McClements, the two occupants of the former home now burned to the ground, has accused police of negligence.

Francis told the Star Monday she filed an official complaint against the RCMP after learning the details of the incident from her mother.

According to Francis, a family member was intoxicated – not an unusual state – and a concerned neighbour had dropped that person off at the residence.

Francis said the family member, now in custody at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre, started both fires, the first shortly after arriving at the house early last Friday.

After members of the local volunteer fire department extinguished the blaze, the family member told them the place would be burned down when authorities left, according to Francis.

Teslin's fire chief, Robert Anderson, declined to comment on the matter. His office forwarded all queries to the Whitehorse RCMP.

The official RCMP line is that nobody knew the cause of the first fire, but Francis accused police of trying to "brush the situation under the carpet.”

"My mother did not enter the house after firemen were in there to put out the (first) fire ... the police were also outside but (the family member) was in the bedroom,” Francis said of the moment the relative allegedly made the ominous remarks.

"She said, ‘As soon as you guys leave, I'm going to light this f**cker up again' so (deputy fire chief) Steve (Kremer) went to my mother and told her this and my mother directed him to tell the police officer.”

According to Francis, the officer told her mother Isabel, "‘Oh, (the family member's) fine, nothing's going to happen ... I'm not going to arrest her.”

"So the officer drove my mom to my uncle's house and when (the officer) was returning, he saw my mother's house was engulfed in flames and called fire department,” Francis said.

"Jenna was standing outside ... the firemen showed up and saw the fire was burning and secured the scene to make sure there was no people in the house.”

Unfortunately, it was too late to save the home, but Francis wants to know why the police failed to arrest the family member after the first fire.

According to Francis, police did not arrest that person until she attempted to flee the scene, running across the Alaska Highway.

"(She) meant to burn down the house,” Francis told the Star.

"Who leaves a person who set a house on fire at the scene of the fire she just set? Common sense, hello.”