Vacant Winnipeg apartment building set for demolition after 3rd fire since 2023
Firefighters were called to Mountain Avenue building Friday, following fires in August 2023 and January 2024
A vacant three-storey apartment block is set to be demolished, after Winnipeg firefighters were called Friday night to the third fire at the Mountain Avenue building since August 2023.
The building, located on the 300 block of Mountain, just west of Main Street, had significant smoke, fire and water damage after the latest fire and must be demolished due to structural concerns, the city said in a Saturday news release.
Firefighters began fighting the blaze around 7:45 p.m. Friday, and attacked the flames from outside the building using an aerial ladder.
Most of the fire had been extinguished by Saturday morning, but several crews were still at the scene putting out smoldering hot spots, the city said.
Several neighbouring residences have been temporarily evacuated as a precaution. The fire remains under investigation and no injuries have been reported.
Some roads in the area will close until the demolition is complete, the city said. It also warned people in the area to be careful, because frigid temperatures in Winnipeg have created slippery conditions.
Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Deputy Chief Scott Wilkinson said crews had to fight the fire from outside because it wasn't safe to enter, due to the structural damage from previous fires.
"That just means longer response times for other potential calls in those areas," he told CBC.
The vacant apartment block was also damaged in a fire in January of last year and one in August 2023, the city said.
The city also confirmed Saturday it's the same building where a January 2022 fire sent two people to hospital.
"We are, unfortunately, going back to many vacant buildings, multiple times, for fires that have been set," often by vulnerable people seeking warmth or in arson incidents, Wilkinson said.
In 2023, the city had a record 156 fires at vacant properties — a 38 per cent increase from the previous year, according to city data released last year.
The city was on pace to break that record last year, with approximately 150 fires at vacant buildings by the end of October, the president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg previously told CBC.
Though final numbers haven't been released, "we would have definitely set a record for vacant building fires in 2024," Wilkinson said. "And the way things have started [this year], that doesn't appear to be diminishing at this point so far."
It's frustrating to return to the same vacant buildings, he said, because those fires tie up resources needed elsewhere and present safety concerns for firefighters.
"We need to do something about the vacant buildings in the city," said Wilkinson . "We don't fight the same level of fires in occupied buildings."
The City of Winnipeg has tried to toughen enforcement on vacant and derelict buildings, introducing stricter requirements for securing doors and windows and billing owners for the cost of sending fire crews to respond to blazes at unoccupied buildings.
In its Saturday news release, the city asked residents to call 911 to report incidents of people entering or trying to enter a boarded-up building.
People can contact 311 if they notice boarded windows or doors that have already been breached, the city said.
With files from Gavin Axelrod