Months of work on condo destroyed in fire; other houses damaged

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This article was published 25/04/2016 (3684 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The owner of a partially-completed apartment building destroyed by fire on the weekend hopes to start rebuilding within a month or so.

“It’s so sad. Seven months of work just flushed down the toilet,” said a spokesman for Ranjjan Developments, the Winnipeg company that was building the three-storey,11-unit apartment complex on the southwest corner of Maryland Street and Westminister Avenue.

“But there’s no choice. You’ve got to keep moving forward, right? So we’re going to rebuild.”

The spokesman, who did not want his name published, said the building was insured and Ranjjan is in discussions with the insurance company about what the insurance payout will be and whether anything can be salvaged.

“Maybe the foundation,” he added. “We’ll take a look into that. But it doesn’t look like anything else. It seems like it’s going to be a total loss and a total rebuild.”

The spokesman said he assumes from media reports police believe the blaze, which was discovered at about 3:45 a.m. Saturday, was deliberately set. The fire also destroyed two neighbouring homes and sent four firefighters and two sisters who lived in one of the destroyed houses to hospital. All but one of the sisters was later released

However, a Winnipeg Police spokesman said Monday investigators haven’t yet determined a cause, although the fire is viewed as “suspicious.”

He said they are seeking two individuals who were seen leaving the construction site shortly before the fire was discovered, but no arrests have been made.

Police said Saturday they suspect the same people also may be responsible for two garage fires around the same time on nearby Chestnut Street. They estimated the damage from the Maryland Street fire at $4.5 million and damage from the two garage fires at $80,000.

However, the Ranjjan official said he’d be surprised if the damage estimate from the Maryland Street fire was more than two million dollars altogether.

He said the project was on track to be completed by August.

“We were virtually finished the framing and we were going to get started on the exterior finishes as well as the interior. So it was fairly far along.”

Ranjjan is also co-developer of a four-storey condo complex under construction one block to the south, at the corner of Maryland Street and Wolseley Avenue. The spokesman said it’s considering installing security cameras at that site.

“You can only do so much with security cameras but still, it might be a deterrent.”

He said it would be too costly to have a security guard posted on site while the building is under construction.

“If you have a larger development it might make sense. But not with these small sites.”

Manitoba Home Builders Association president Mike Moore and Winnipeg Construction Association president Ron Hambley agreed.

“It would be cost prohibitive,” Hambley said. “It would probably be two full months where it (the building under construction) would be more exposed — from the time framing started until the time it’s fully closed in.”

He and Moore said even if a security guard was on site, it still might not be enough.

“Unfortunately, if somebody is intent on causing damage, whether it’s a fire, theft or vandalism, they’re going to find a way to do it,” Moore added.

The Maryland Street building was one of two multi-family residential buildings damaged by fire over the weekend. Police also arrested a 16-year-old Winnipeg youth in connection with a fire at about 5 p.m. Sunday at a condominium complex under construction in the 100 block of Sinawik Bay. The suspect, who has since been released on a promise to appear, is facing two charges of mischief under $5,000 and one charge each of break and enter, arson and possessing incendiary material.

Despite two incidents on the same weekend, Moore and Hambley maintained fires at construction sites are a fairly rare occurrence in Winnipeg.

“Theft (from a construction site) is certainly a bigger problem than arson,” Moore added.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca