2 fires in 24 hours latest in string of William Whyte blazes, neighbours say
Neighbourhood association counted 32 fires within last three years
Residents in Winnipeg's North End issued a call for help after fires destroyed dozens of houses in the neighbourhood in recent years.
The William Whyte Neighbourhood Association released a statement to local media saying they had counted 30 fires within the last three years. Less than 24 hours after issuing that statement, two more houses burned in the neighbourhood.
"It's very scary," said Darrell Warren, who has lived in the neighbourhood for 62 years.
Firefighters responded to a fire at a house on Magnus Avenue near Main Street Monday morning.
The two-storey building had boards covering the windows on the first floor, and firefighters said they found four people who are not the owners inside. They extinguished the fire before 10:30 a.m. and no injuries were reported.
The fire on Magnus Avenue is just the latest example of a problem that has plagued the community in recent years, said Warren, president of the William Whyte Neighborhood Association.
"A lot of the people in the area that live next door to these houses, they sleep with one eye open, unfortunately."
'Scared to death'
Fire crews were called to another fire at the corner of Manitoba Avenue and Aikins Street Sunday evening.
"Our seniors are just scared to death and their kids want them out of here, want them to move out, because they just say it's too unsafe," Warren said.
District fire chief Larry Szarko said property owners need to be accountable for the safety of their buildings.
"It shouldn't be us going to the same structure every two weeks," he said.
"There's people here that live in the area that are concerned, they express their opinions to the fire department, and we express our opinions to [city] council."
According to City of Winnipeg data, as of December 2022, William Whyte had by far the most vacant buildings registered under the vacant buildings bylaw. At that time, there were 88 vacant homes registered with the city — more than twice that of St. John's, the neighbourhood with the second-highest number of vacant homes.
City councillors have proposed a number of changes to crack down on vacant and derelict buildings. Council recently passed a motion to bill property owners whenever fire crews respond to incidents at vacant buildings.
Other proposals working their way through committees include a motion to eliminate requirements for a public hearing and a plan to rebuild before issuing demolition permits.
A separate motion would enhance security requirements for vacant buildings, impose a new inspection fee on owners of problem properties and add four new bylaw officers dedicated to keeping track of them.
Higher risk
Mayor Scott Gillingham says city staff want to see changes.
"Bylaw officers have to go out to these sites repeatedly," Gillingham said, following an announcement of the opening of a new affordable housing project on nearby Ross Avenue in the Centennial neighbourhood.
"And I know that our fire department has to go out to these sites," he said. "And every time you've got a home, a building that is vacant, and it's boarded up, it can create safety challenges."
United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg vice-president Derek Balcaen says abandoned buildings pose a higher risk, because crews often don't know what they're dealing with.
"We have no idea of whether these buildings are inhabited or not. And just as importantly is we don't know the integrity of the building when we show up."
Warren says he supports the efforts of city officials to tackle the problem, but wishes they would act faster.
"Let's fix these houses up before they burn, where they can be salvaged. And if they can't be salvaged, let's plow them down and hopefully we'll get some people in here that want to build and get some new houses," he said.
"Every time that it's prolonged another day, as you see, there's two more houses gone."
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