Arson probes inadequate as inner-city burns, activist says

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This article was published 11/03/2024 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A longtime Winnipeg activist is sounding the alarm after a rash of fires in the city’s core, calling on police and fire officials to crack down on potential arsonists and avoidable damage.

“It’s been problematic for years now and it’s cumulative,” Point Douglas community leader Sel Burrows said Monday.

“We’ve got to save more of these buildings. Inner-city rehabilitation doesn’t happen by burning down houses and commercial buildings. We need the houses and we need those businesses; it’s got to stop.”

Burrows said he’s concerned about what he sees as a lack of urgency surrounding investigations into fires in the inner-city, where at least 11 buildings have burned — and dozens of people have been displaced — since March 1.

Each of the fires in vacant buildings, multi-family homes and apartments that have occurred in a wide swath, from Young Street to Selkirk Avenue, are under investigation.

Burrows questioned whether the public will learn what caused the blazes, pointing to a low arson-investigation clearance rate and a lack of reporting from provincial fire officials.

Data provided by the Winnipeg Police Service shows that out of 494 arson investigations logged last year, the clearance rate was about eight per cent.

Clearance rates for arsons involving a “disregard for human life,” which the WPS classifies as violent crimes, were higher. Of 21 violent arsons logged during the same period, the clearance rate was 81 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Manitoba Office of the Fire Commissioner, which is legislated to assist in investigating fires within the province, has not released an annual report since 2019-2020.

The lack of reporting means the public does not have an official accounting of the number of investigations the office is involved in, its investigative efficacy or the number of people charged by police, as a result.

By it’s own standards, the commission considers such data part of its “key performance indicators.”

It’s not clear why the fire commissioner has not issued annual reports in the last three years.

The Free Press has requested comment and updated investigations statistics from the province, but a spokesperson said the office was unable to respond Monday.

Burrows suggested the province renew its defunct arson strike force, which was previously composed of investigators from the fire commissioner’s office, WPS and Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service.

“I think they can cross-pollinate their knowledge and support each other,” he said. “Having them working from the same office rather than consulting on occasion, I think we can get real results where not only would they make arrests but they would also identify patterns.”

The provincial government created the strike force in 1999. At the time, rooming houses and vacant buildings were burning at a rate more than triple the national average, making Winnipeg the arson capital of Canada.

Composed of five firefighters, four police officers and three fire commissioner’s office investigators, the strike force reduced the number of arsons and suspicious fires in the city by 38 per cent in its first year of operation.

However, the strike force’s efficacy waned over the next decade. Fires surged again in 2012, and around 2014, the team was officially disbanded, a City of Winnipeg spokesperson confirmed.

Under the current system, WFPS fire investigators determine the cause of fires and turn over the investigation to the WPS major crimes unit in the event of a suspicious or criminal blaze.

Fire investigators are on staff at all times and were involved in more than 600 investigations last year, the city said, adding the WFPS works collaboratively with the WPS “on a daily basis.”

“As Winnipeg experiences more fires than (other) cities, the WFPS recognizes the need for specialized equipment, resources and training,” the spokesperson said.

Tom Bilous, president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg, described the investigative capacity of the force as “dismal” and said the total complement may include as few as four certified investigators.

The number may be bolstered by the fire commissioner’s office, although the province was unable to confirm how many of its investigators currently operate in Winnipeg.

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It’s website says six staff are assigned to the city, but the information does not appear to have been updated since the arson strike force was disbanded.

“We are not hung up so much on an arson strike force, per se,” Bilous said. “What we’re hung up on is more resources and support. Given the frequency of fires we have here in Winnipeg, it is laughable we have such a little resources.”

The union president went on to describe the city as the “Detroit of the Canada,” referencing the U.S. city known for its abundance of vacant and fire-ravaged buildings.

A spokesperson for Coun. Evan Duncan, who chairs the standing policy committee on community services, said his office is requesting additional information regarding fire investigations from the city’s public service.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.