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Selkirk trailer fire leaves four dead
An early morning fire in a mobile home on Bermuda Bay in Selkirk, claimed the lives of four males, Saturday. Members of the Office of the Fire Commissioner are investigating. (TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store
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Four men are dead, including a father and his son, in a horrific early morning fire in a Selkirk trailer park Saturday.
Lawrence Traverse, 42, and his son, Gerald, 18, perished in the fire in a trailer the father rented. They are originally from Fisher River First Nation in the Interlake, just north of Chief Peguis First Nation.
The owner of the trailer, Jason Marsh, in his late 30s, also died. The fourth victim was a male in his 30s.
A fifth male managed to escape the fire and seek help. He was taken to hospital but his injuries are not considered life threatening.
"Awful, awful..." a neighbour across from the house, Sandra Whiteway, was overheard repeating to herself.
Firefighters were notified just before 5 a.m. of the fire on Bermuda Bay in the Selkirk trailer court. Fortunately, the fire didn’t spread to any other trailers.
"I don’t think anyone could have helped. Trailers like this go up so fast," said Murray Chabluk, a neighbour down the street.
All Whiteway could see was "smoke and flames" when she looked out her window that morning, she said.
Whiteway, who talked to the father two days before the fire, said friends were staying at the trailer when the fire started. Neither the father or son were employed. The father was on disability, Whiteway said.
The trailer was a known party house with often 15 or more youths inside. People claimed there was a great amount of drinking and taking drugs at the trailer. RCMP visited the trailer many times, they said.
"Sad but true. There was always a party going on. They drank and everyone knew it," said a neighbour, Gordon Recksiedler.
Recksiedler, a recovered alcoholic, said he tried to steer them straight. Recksiedler, wearing a leather baseball-style hat that said "Prayer Warrior" on the front, said he frequently took the father and son to a local soup kitchen in Selkirk called Our Daily Bread. He could not get them to stop drinking, he said.
"Gordie tried helping them so many times," said a friend of his named Georgina.
The father and son were said to have lived in the trailer for a few years.
The RCMP is not releasing names of the deceased. People in the trailer court supplied the names.
The damage to the trailer is considered extensive and estimates were not available.
RCMP and Manitoba Office of the Fire Commissioner continue to investigate the cause of the fire. Autopsies will be performed in Winnipeg.
History
Updated on Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 10:17 AM CST: Updates that fire was in trailer court
12:52 PM: adds photo
2:33 PM: updates with full writethru
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