Summer of flames

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PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES Firefighters work near a house engulfed in flames as they fight a blaze in the neighbouring property on McKenzie Street in July. This summer has been a troublesome one for fires.

While Mother Nature kept the mercury hot throughout July, arsonists kept the heat on Winnipeg firefighters and made it one of the city's worst months ever for blazes and fire-related tragedies.

The numbers are stark and stand out not only in the city's history, but also compared to other Canadian cities.

Seven people dead, five in a single rooming-house blaze. Eighteen people injured. Twenty-six firefighters injured while battling the blazes.

There were 385 fires causing a total of $4,832,705 in damage, while just over $4 million of that was caused by suspected arson-related blazes.

The fires were also spread across the city, with 20 of them in Fort Rouge alone.

"This was the most significant month on record," said deputy chief Ken Sim. "It is causing us a lot of concern."

But there is one number that will never be known: How many more people would have died if not for the bravery of the city's 950 active firefighters?

"They are going into buildings even though they know they should be fighting a defensive fire," Alex Forrest, president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg, said on Wednesday.

"It's not just a matter of going in to put out a fire -- they are falling through floors. We had 26 work-related injuries in July.

"There is no such thing as a minor fire."

Forrest said the number of fires -- and fatalities -- in one month is higher than other cities see.

And Forrest said there's no sign the spate of fires in July isn't continuing in August after firefighters rushed to battle a rooming-house fire at McDermot Avenue early Wednesday.

That fire, which broke out about 4 a.m., left the 21/2-storey structure a charred mess with an estimated $100,000 in damage to the building and $50,000 to the contents.

No one was injured, unlike the rooming-house fire on Austin Street North that claimed five lives last month.

"If they'd have been there in six minutes instead of three minutes we could have had more deaths," Forrest said.

"Usually these fires start small, but with arsons they move quickly."

The last arson spree to hit Winnipeg was in 1999. That's when garbage bins in alleys and vacant buildings were set ablaze, lighting up the night. Media reported police cruisers were following fire trucks rushing to calls while other cruisers drove down side streets trying to find the fleeing arsonists.

Out of the ashes of those blazes came the Winnipeg police arson strike force, tasked with solving the crimes.

It's that same force that is busy investigating the current rash of fires.

Senior members of both the Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service and the firefighters union know what's causing most of the fires -- arson -- but they also know how hard it is to stop it.

"These are all caused by a few people," Sim said.

"We're working very hard with police to put some names and individuals that may be responsible for this off the street."

Sim said the number of fires in July was up 15 per cent from July 2010 -- which had 340 fires, a number already higher than normal.

District chief Bruce Duncan has been at several of the fires in recent weeks, including the fatal July 17 rooming-house fire on Austin Street North and the condo fire in St. Vital that killed a 73-year-old woman on July 15 and caused more than $1 million in damage.

But Duncan was also at 15 Gabrielle Roy Place in February, 2007, when a sudden flashover at a two-storey home killed two firefighters and injured four others.

It's the knowledge gained in that blaze that may have prevented an even greater tragedy at the St. Vital condo fire.

"The only real difference between the fires was it wasn't 40 below out," Duncan said.

"Or maybe it was fate. I kept our guys defensive. I kept the guys out of there. Then there was a flashover, but they weren't in there.

"Thank God it worked out for our guys."

But Duncan said the firefighters battling the fatal rooming-house blaze kept going into the building valiantly trying to save people even though all their training said they shouldn't.

"When you hear people screaming, it sends you in," he said.

"It was a super-heroic effort by our guys. Normally this would be a defensive fire when it was this involved. We had people lying all over the boulevard getting CPR -- it looked like Beirut."

Duncan said there are so many fires occurring daily that at times resources are stretched. At the same time firefighters were battling the rooming-house blaze on Austin Street North there were fires on Young Street and Selkirk Avenue.

"It spreads our resources pretty thin," he said.

Until the arsons are stomped out, Sim's advice for Winnipeggers is simple: Be vigilant.

"It's the neighbourhood perspective that helps us and it is often that awareness that helps catch people."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 4, 2011 A3