Firefighters battle North End house fire in bitter cold

Winnipeg firefighters faced a bitterly cold morning as they fought flames coming out of the roof of a North End home on Friday.

Crews were called to Pritchard Avenue near Main Street around 7 a.m.  

Ihor Holowczynsky, assistant chief of fire rescue operations, said six people escaped the home before crews arrived.

Flames burned through the roof of the two-storey home and huge black clouds of smoke could be seen above the neighbourhood.

Holowczynsky said 40 to 50 firefighters were tackling the fire but it was important they rotate in and out of the cold. 

"As we all know, it's a little more difficult [in the cold]," he said. "Things freeze up a lot quicker, so we have to work as fast as we can."

Multiple fire trucks, police cars and ambulances were at the scene. The city's major incident response vehicle (MIRV) was also parked nearby. 

John Donovan and his family live in the house next door and said they were just waking up when someone started banging at the door. It was his neighbour, who told him to get his family out of the house because the flames were jumping over to his roof.

Firefighters battle blaze in North End

7 years ago

Duration 0:30

Winnipeg firefighters face a bitterly cold morning as they fight flames coming out of the roof of a North End home on Pritchard Avenue Friday morning.

"As soon as I walked out my front door, the blaze was coming out of the front of the house," he said, pointing to the neighbouring home. "It was pretty big and roaring."

There is no word on what caused the fire.

Alex Forrest, head of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg, posted to Twitter that it has been a very busy week fighting fires in the extreme cold.

Firefighters battle North End house fire in bitter cold

7 years ago

Duration 1:51

Winnipeg firefighters faced a bitterly cold morning as they fought flames coming out of the roof of a North End home on Friday.