City on track to have 200 vacant building fires

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This article was published 11/12/2024 (269 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg is on track to record more than 200 vacant building fires this year.

“I can honestly expect that those numbers will stay elevated for the near future, throughout the winter, as we do have ongoing issues with homelessness and other factors,” Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service deputy chief Scott Wilkinson said Wednesday.

In total, 182 empty buildings were hit by fire from January to September.

That surpasses the number in all of 2023, when the city recorded 156 fires.

Fires occur in any area, but the “disturbing trend” most affects inner-city neighbourhoods, Wilkinson said.

For example, fire crews were sent to a vacant bi-level house on the 200 block of Redwood Avenue Tuesday night. They fought the flames from outside the structure and declared it under control around 1 a.m.

Ten hours later, crews remained at the scene to extinguish hot spots. The building will have to be demosished after sustaining significant smoke, fire and water damage. It was the second time the bi-level was damaged; it was ablaze on Dec. 23, 2022.

Wilkinson said the problem will persist if property owners fail to repair or demolish vacant buildings.

“If we get people living in them, we prevent some of these fires and we improve neighborhoods,” Wilkinson said.

Earlier this month, an unsafe conditions response team of property enforcement and inspections staff began work on a pilot project to inspect unsafe conditions at properties sooner, in the hopes vacant buildings are dealt with before they are set ablaze.

City officials are monitoring 684 properties under Winnipeg’s vacant buildings bylaw, including 526 residential and 158 commercial spots, the city said last week.

At that time, deputy chief administrative officer Moira Geer said 63 demolitions of problem properties had been completed this year.

In 2022, there were 97 fires, compared with just 58 incidents in 2018.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca

Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer

Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.

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