Neighbours on evacuation standby 'rattled,' concerned about access after apartment block residents ordered out

People living in homes surrounding a five-storey Winnipeg apartment building that was evacuated earlier this month due to structural issues are facing some uncertainty themselves, after being told they should be ready to leave with little notice. 

Homeowners who spoke to CBC News said while their main concern is for their neighbours from Birchwood Terrace who have already been displaced, they have questions about what would prompt an evacuation of their homes — and wonder how the apartment building was allowed to deteriorate.

"It's just very sad," said Mike Dumka, whose family received an evacuation standby alert nearly two weeks ago. "You get a little angry, right, because you're like, 'How the heck does this happen? How does a building get into this state?'"

On the night of May 9, the City of Winnipeg used emergency management bylaws to order the owner of Birchwood Terrace to immediately vacate the west Winnipeg building, due to unsafe conditions. 

The order cited an engineer consultant's inspection that said it discovered deterioration in the block's parkade, which appeared to affect the stability of the entire building.

Dumka, who lives with his wife and kids just west of the apartment block at 2440 Portage Ave., said a Winnipeg police officer and a city official knocked on his door that same night.

"It was kind of just like, 'Holy, what's going on?'" Dumka said. "They handed us a piece of paper, an evacuation alert, to tell us the instructions of what to get ready."

People in 30 homes on Olive Street and Assiniboine Crescent are on standby to leave. The city says the evacuation alert will remain in effect until further notice.

"I was like, 'Do we need to have anything packed?'" Dumka said. "And they were like, 'We'll come and then you'll have 10 minutes,'" if an evacuation is ordered.

Dumka said the visit initially left him feeling "rattled," but his thoughts turned immediately to the approximately 250 people living in the apartment block who had to leave their homes.

"[For] them, it's the real impact because it's their lives," he said. "Some people have been there like 20-plus years."

Pedestrians forced to detour

Dumka, his wife, their two sons and two dogs have places to stay if an evacuation of their home is ordered.

"We have some stuff prepared, just in case," Dumka said, but he's been given few other details about exactly why an evacuation of neighbouring homes would be required.

"The way it was kind of framed for us was if the repairs go wrong and the building comes down, that's when we would tell you," he said. 

He feels his home is a safe distance away from the apartment.

The city has previously said an evacuation of neighbouring homes could happen if or when the structural condition of the apartment building requires it.

City officials went door-to-door a second time the week after the evacuation to tell homeowners the evacuation standby was still in place and to answer any questions, spokesperson Kalen Qually said in an email.

"It's our intention to periodically check-in with these property owners," the city spokesperson said.

Henry Borger, vice-president of Ladco Company Ltd. — which owns Birchwood Terrace — declined an interview. He said in a text message the company doesn't have any updates on the status of the apartment building.

The apartment is now surrounded by fencing, which extends past the public sidewalk onto the edge of the road along Portage Avenue, blocking access to the normally busy crossing at Whytewold Road.

The fencing also surrounds play structures in the city-owned Birchwood Park.

Qually said access along the sidewalk in front of the apartment was blocked off for as a precaution at the request of the building owner's prime contractor. 

It will remain closed until further notice, he said.

Area resident Colleen Morrison also received an evacuation alert, but said she's more concerned about the loss of access to the busy intersection for pedestrians.

"Elderly, or people with little kids … have to hightail it all the way down to Mount Royal or all the way to Moray to be able to cross the street," a detour of several blocks, she said. "Otherwise, they have to jaywalk."

She tried, unsuccessfully, to get through to the city's 311 service to raise her concerns, she said.

Morrison also said her heart breaks for the residents of the apartment who have been forced to leave.

"There was a lot of elderly people who had been long-term residents of this building," she said. "I don't know where they're going to go."