Crews continue to fight fire day after blaze at West End building

Winnipeg firefighters continued to pour water onto a two-storey building on Portage Avenue on Thursday, the day after a fire started there and closed surrounding streets.

Emergency crews battled the blaze at the Kirkwood Block building at Langside Street starting around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. They were still at it Thursday afternoon.

Police are still blocking Portage, which is covered in ice from the fire fight, from Memorial Boulevard to Sherbrook Street.

The historic mixed-used building will have to be demolished, according to the City of Winnipeg. It was home to the West End BIZ for a decade, as well a doughnut shop, a nightclub, a hairdresser and a convenience store. 

Approximately 50 pieces of equipment and vehicles — including fire pumps, aerial ladders, rehabilitation units and various emergency vehicles — have been sent to help fight the fire, the city said in a Thursday news release.

Nearly 130 Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responders have taken part in the response, the city says.

Crews struggled to get the fire under control on Wednesday. Large plumes of black and grey smoke poured into the sky for hours and continued to Thursday. 

Fears that the building could collapse kept firefighters from entering.

The frigid temperatures, which were in the –23 C range but felt colder than –30 with wind chill, presented challenges on Wednesday.

An assistant fire chief told CBC News the cold made it hard to rotate staff out, and crews also had equipment freeze or break during the effort.

Winnipeg police Const. Jay Murray said Thursday the city had street graders and sanders out in the area in an attempt to make Portage less slippery and hopefully allow eastbound lanes to reopen.

Opening westbound lanes could take longer because crews were still spraying down the building, which will have to be demolished, Murray said.

Traffic on Portage Avenue will be impacted until the building is completely demolished, the city said.

In order to completely extinguish the fire, heavy equipment will start demolishing the structure to expose hot spots and pockets of fire for firefighters to access, the city's news release said.

Before that happens, crews will work with a crane operator to remove the large billboard that sits atop the building, according to the city.

The billboard structure and the heavy steel support beams it rests on could pose a risk of injury to crews and damage to neighbouring properties in an uncontrolled fall, the city says. Plans for its removal are underway and crane operations are expected to start sometime later today.

It may take days to completely extinguish the fire and tear down the building, according to the release.

One injury was reported Wednesday. The cause of the fire isn't yet known.

The extent of smoke and water damage to neighbouring buildings is still being assessed.