Big blaze in Wolseley sends six to hospital with minor injuries

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This article was published 23/04/2016 (3813 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Trapped between flames on their front porch and on the wheelchair ramp in the rear, Neda Procner could only think of two things: she wasn’t going to leave her sister, who uses a wheelchair, and they were going to die.

That’s when Winnipeg firefighters sprayed water onto the roof over the front porch and a firefighter broke through their front door.

“The emergency staff were amazing,” Procner said Saturday, looking at her heavily damaged home of 21 years just hours after the ordeal.

“We wouldn’t be alive if not for them. Everything happened in five minutes, from the time I got up to when we got out.”

Procner and her sister Helen live next door to a condominium being constructed at Maryland Street and Westminster Avenue, which police believe was set on fire early Saturday.

The flames spread to Procner’s house next door on Maryland and jumped across the back lane, heavily damaging another house on Westminster at about 3:40 a.m.

Procner said the entire family in that house — including a baby born a few months ago — also escaped before the structure was gutted.

She said she was asleep in her third-floor bedroom when she awoke to the sounds of “crackling noises” and saw an orange glow coming through the window.

When Procner made her way downstairs and looked out the back window, she saw an electrical panel on the house behind on fire and saw sparks and flames on the wooden wheelchair ramp outside. She ran to her sister’s first-floor bedroom.

‘I looked around and couldn’t see my sister because of the smoke’ — Neda Procner

“I told my sister — who was now up — we have to get out. I called 911 and said the house next door is on fire, and my sister is in a wheelchair. They said someone had already called and they were on their way.

“We went to the front door, but the front porch was in flames, so we couldn’t get out. That’s when I saw the firefighters show up.

“They couldn’t see us. I opened the (inner) door to call them, and so much smoke came in and I had to put my arm up over my nose. I looked around and couldn’t see my sister because of the smoke. Then they sprayed water over the roof of the porch.

“That’s when the firefighter broke through the door and yelled at me to get out. They pulled me out right away. I rushed across the road to a neighbour’s. I didn’t know if my sister was still alive. But they carried her out.

“Her wheelchair is still in the house, melted.”

Procner, her sister and four firefighters were taken to hospital to be treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation. All were later listed in stable condition.

Winnipeg Fire District Chief Greg Cannell said the firefighters were injured rescuing the woman in the wheelchair and fighting the blaze.

Cannell said there is no damage estimate yet, but the unfinished condo was completely destroyed, and they also consider the other two houses writeoffs.

He said the cause of the fire is considered suspicious, and it is being investigated by the arson unit.

Winnipeg police closed Westminster and Maryland to traffic for several hours Saturday.

Manitoba Hydro also cut off electricity to the entire block.

Cannell said because of the possibility the fire was caused by arson, police and fire personnel also checked a similar condominium under construction further down on Maryland, beside the historic Woodsworth House, and found it to be fine.

Winnipeg police said they also evacuated several houses on Dundurn Place as a precaution.

The heat from the fire was so intense it melted the steel around a traffic light, as well as the roof of a bus shelter on the other side of Westminster and the Westminster United Church sign facing the blaze. Firefighters said the church itself was not damaged.

Procner said both she and her sister suffered some burns, but they are OK. She said her sister was still in the hospital getting oxygen Saturday afternoon.

“We are alive. For a few minutes, I thought we were dead.

I was yelling ‘We are going to die.’”

Procner said they lost everything in the fire, but they have insurance.

Meanwhile, police said another fire broke out nearby about two hours later, threatening a historic landmark.

Firefighters rushed to the 100 block of Chestnut Street, where they found two garages on fire in the back lane, one behind the former home of women’s suffragist Nellie McClung.

The garage behind the McClung house was heavily damaged, while the one next door was destroyed. Residents inside the house say they are unsure if the garage dates back to when McClung lived there.

Fire and police spokespeople would not say if they believe the two fires in the Wolseley area are linked.

Both fires are considered suspicious and are being investigated by the Winnipeg Police Service’s arson unit.

Anyone with information on either incident is being asked to call investigators at 204-986-6813 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (8477).

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

 

 

Huge Fire on Maryland and Westminister-Involving 3 homes and one commercial building1/3

— Alex Forrest (@wpgfirefighter) April 23, 2016

2 civilians rescued from one home but 4 Firefighter suffered burns while searching for victims.2/3

— Alex Forrest (@wpgfirefighter) April 23, 2016

All 6 were transported to hospital in stable condition- Fantastic work by WFD- Great Teamwork with Firefighters and Ambulance3/3

— Alex Forrest (@wpgfirefighter) April 23, 2016