Fires leave residents afraid to sleep

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This article was published 27/07/2011 (5213 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG – For a neighbourhood already on edge, the latest arson — which claimed the lives of a dog and two cats — might be the tipping point.

Screams from a woman fleeing her burning home split the silence of Hector Street shortly after midnight Tuesday and were followed by panic and confusion.

There were blaring sirens, fire trucks, police cruisers, flashing lights and red flames that shot higher than the old trees lining the boulevards in this part of Winnipeg. Neighbours rushed out of their houses. Some 20 police officers were dispatched to the scene.

Then, around 4 a.m., there were reports of an explosion of white sparks, the sound of a loud crackling, then a sudden blackout. Some residents saw flames from the fire hit the overhead power lines before the lights went out.

By morning, all that remained were charred studs, melted siding and blackened stucco that were the focus of an investigation by the arson strike force.

No one was injured but many neighbours said they spent a sleepless night and remained shaken and scared.

The woman who escaped the blaze was too upset to talk, said a neighbour who took her in. Her pets, a dog and two cats, perished.

Now there’s talk of forming neighbourhood watch patrols, with pairs at night moving through back lanes to scare the firebug off, and stepping up police patrols.

Police have said they’re investigating about 20 fires that have happened in the Fort Rouge area over the last three months, but haven’t linked them to one serial arsonist.

Winnipeg Police Service Const. Natalie Aitken said Wednesday morning that the Arson Strike Force is in charge of overseeing investigations into the blazes.

The Arson Strike Force is made up of officers from the police service, as well as officials from the Fire Commissioner’s Office and the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service. Aitken said the fires tend to break out in the early morning hours.

"I feel sorry for that lady because she lost her pets but what’s next? A person?" Alex Labra said.

"He’s going to kill somebody. Somebody is not going to wake up (one morning) and I think that’s going to happen. It’s quite scary."

"This is the fourth fire in a month on Hector," said Nancy Labra, his wife.

Her husband dialled 911 Tuesday night and he dialled 911 in June, too, Nancy Labra said.

That time, a garage was torched in the back lane off Wentworth Street between Hector and Ebby avenues.

"The last time it happened, a fireman told me there’s an arsonist in the area. Obviously he’s still doing it," Alex Labra said.

Police said a house and garage in the 800 block of Hector Avenue were set ablaze just after 1 a.m. Damage is estimated at $240,000.

Three other homes on Hector were also damaged by fire, including a garage and shed, while two homes on nearby Carter Avenue also were damaged. A fire official put the total damage estimate on the other five addresses at about $34,000.

The fires Tuesday night were the latest in a series of arsons on garages in Crescentwood-Fort Rouge. There have been 11 other fires within a radius of about 10 blocks in the last three months.

Tuesday, however, was the first time a fire got so out of control.

Ed Thomas said the heat melted the plastic siding on his sunroom, two doors down from the garage where the fire started.

"With all the firefighters here, I didn’t think it would go any further. It was two garages. Then it caught the house and the flames went up 10 feet higher," Thomas said.

One distraught resident spoke to the Free Press as the firefighters battled the blaze.

"It’s the scariest moment of my life," said the woman, standing out in the street amid the emergency equipment.

"Why haven’t these people been caught? Burning peoples’ property, with no motive…. It’s disgusting. I think (police cadet patrols) are a good idea. Something needs to be done. Chances are they won’t be caught if nobody catches them in the act."

Across the street, a young man said his mother’s yells got him up and out with a garden hose before firefighters arrived.

"My mom was yelling that our neighbour was screaming and I got up and ran outside and the woman was on her front porch. Her house was on fire," said Cody Somersall. "Her animals were inside."

The hose was too short to get close enough to the fire.

"I had several people tell me to just leave it," he said.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca

— with files from Gabrielle Giroday