'Start running, go faster!' Manitoba dad flees with young kids after massive fire

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It's being described as the worst fire Brandon, Man., has ever seen, and it happened in the downtown core of the city.

On Saturday, a fire broke out at a landmark building, Christie's Office Plus. It then spread to other buildings in the area, including Massey Manor, a five-storey affordable housing complex run by community groups.

Justin Verinder and his two children, ages three and five, were among the more than 100 people forced out of Massey Manor because of the massive fire.

Verinder and his family are now at a hotel indefinitely, along with dozens of other families.

Authorities say the cause of the fire is still unknown.

• 'Total chaos': Fire burns through Brandon's downtown
• Fire devours downtown Brandon, Man.

As It Happens host Carol Off spoke to Verinder about what the weekend has been like for him and his family. Here is part of that conversation.

How are you and your children doing today?

They think it's this kind of adventure, but it's starting to sink in that they don't have any of their stuff now.

Like, this morning, my daughter woke up and started crying right away, because "our house was broken." That's what she said.

My son said, "I wish this wasn't real," and I felt so bad for him. I didn't know what to tell him. It is real.

What are you telling them?

I told them that we're safe and that there's a lot of generous people bringing us new stuff. They brought toys for the kids, so the kids are actually kind of adventuring right now.

Can you just take us back to the weekend, and at what point you realized your building was in trouble?

Kids pull the fire alarm a lot in the building, so at first I thought it was a false alarm.

And then I smelled smoke so I looked outside on my balcony, and you could see a huge cloud of smoke, so I grabbed the kids' sweaters and I just left with what I had in my pockets [wallet and phone] and we went out to the parking lot.

The fire was blowing across the street and it was almost hitting the Massey Manor building and you could tell it was going to light on fire. The kids were crying and scared, so I said: "Let's go for a walk and get away from this."

We started walking south and I was trying to hide the fire from my kids, but this huge explosion came into the sky.

It was like a mushroom cloud, and my son saw it, and so did my daughter.

As soon as I saw it I was like, "Start running, go faster!"

So we got up the street and then a bus driver pulled over and the people from my building, they were yelling: "Get on the bus!"

So [we] went and got on the bus. The smoke was getting so bad it was coming into the bus.

The fire department says it's the worst fire in 50 years, in a half century.

I've never seen anything like that in my entire life. I was standing three blocks away from the explosion and I could feel the heat on my face.

My [son] said, "Yo, I just got really hot."

And I was like, "Yeah, I know, so let's run faster, buddy!"

And I was trying to get them away from it, and more people kept coming closer and [taking] pictures. There were electrical cables falling down from the poles.

I was like, "Why are you going that way?"

I saw the Manitoba Hydro guy speeding like crazy. I've never seen a Manitoba Hydro guy driving that fast before. And I knew where he was going because the fire was spreading, and I knew that building exploded and there are gas lines underneath there, so he was in a major hurry.

This building is affordable housing. How difficult is it going to be to find a place to live?

They're talking about giving us vouchers and money and stuff to replace some of our things.

I won't have my photos back or my music, and a lot of personal things that I really care about are gone and I can't replace those, but I would like to start looking for a place soon.

But there's also going to be 100 other families looking for a place at the same time. I'm going to be competing with my neighbours and friends to get these apartments.

Written by Jeanne Armstrong. Interview produced by Katie Geleff. Q&A edited for length and clarity.