Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
Fire department defends response time
TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image
Hundreds of area residents gathered to watch firefighters battle a blaze at 11 Amber Trail around 9:30 p.m. Friday night.
WINNIPEG — Firefighters say they took less than seven minutes to get to a blaze that destroyed an Amber Trails home Friday night.
Bill Clark, Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service assistant chief of operations, said the precise response time was six minutes and 43 seconds from the time the 911 call was made. He said the suggestion from residents that firefighters weren’t rushing wasn’t fair.
Hundreds of people flocked to the fire, whose smoke could be seen clearly by spectators at the Blue Bombers’ game several kilometers away.
Firefighters must prepare to fight a fire by doing things like putting on breathing apparatus’ and stretching a hose line, Clark said."I don’t think it’s really fair for a person to make that form of comment, unless they really understand the nature of what we’re doing," he said.
"That’s not how we operate, that’s just not it at all... we’re there to help people, we’re not there to dawdle around."
Clark said two fire engines who were first to arrive at the fire were not hindered by pedestrian or vehicle traffic in the area.
He said due to traffic there was a "minor delay" of about 10 to 15 seconds for about six more fire vehicles that came later.
A north Winnipeg family escaped relatively unscathed.
The two-storey house on Amber Trail was almost entirely gutted with the second-floor windows blown out, the walls charred and the attached garage destroyed. Two cars in the garage appeared to have melted from the heat.
Hundreds of people gathered to watch the blaze, creating a street festival atmosphere.
The owner of the house, Parma Bangal, said his family got out okay, before being whisked away by fire investigators.
Jagroop Hayer, who called 911 after seeing smoke from his deck a couple of blocks away, claimed it took firefighters more than 20 minutes to arrive on the scene and once they were there, they didn't seem in any rush to put the fire out.
"This was a disgraceful performance by the fire department. The fire hall is just a 10 minute walk away," he said.
A district fire chief told CBC the huge crowds of people watching the fire and traffic converging on the fire scene delayed fire trucks getting to the scene.
Fire investigators still have not determined a cause of the fire nor have they estimated damages.
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