Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Honking horn alerts family to early morning house fire
Owner says blaze likely started in van
Saturday’s fire caused $125,000 damage to this Alexander Avenue home, including destroying the garage and van. (DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)
A local family narrowly escaped an early morning blaze Saturday after their garage caught fire and flames spread to the back of their home.
Lyle Lucier said his son woke him in the wee hours of the morning when he heard the horn from Lucier's van beeping incessantly. Lucier opened his blinds and saw an orange blaze and thick black smoke surrounding his Alexander Avenue home.
"We got up and saw nothing but flames," he said. "We barely got out."
A Winnipeg Fire Department spokesman said the Arson Strike Force is investigating. The blaze caused $125,000 in damage, destroying Lucier's garage, van and parts of his roof and kitchen.
Lucier said he was told by investigators the blaze may have been deliberately set.
The heat from the blaze was so intense it melted one neighbour's blinds and caused the paint on a nearby parked car to peel and discolour.
Standing amid the charred, wet debris at his back steps Saturday afternoon, Lucier said the situation could have been much worse. When the fire broke out shortly after 5:30 a.m., he and seven other relatives were asleep.
Lucier believes the van caught fire first and the family might have slept through the ordeal if the vehicle hadn't started making noises.
"It could have been a tragedy if nobody woke up," he said.
Lucier and his family have lived in the Weston-area home for 19 years, and said he has recently watched his neighbourhood become a hot spot for violence and crime.
He said a nearby garbage bin was recently set ablaze, his garage has been repeatedly broken into, and he was once assaulted in the back lane behind his garage.
Lucier, a semi-retired carpenter, said he plans to fix the interior of his home and promptly move.
"What a mess," he said.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 10, 2009 A3
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