Boxing Day blaze leaves more than 20 people temporarily homeless

West End apartment block to be demolished

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A woman and a young man stood, eyes wide and shivering, on the street corner Thursday afternoon.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/12/2019 (2117 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A woman and a young man stood, eyes wide and shivering, on the street corner Thursday afternoon.

It had been 11 hours since they started to smell smoke and a fire alarm roused them awake and out of their suite in an apartment building on the 500 block of Agnes Street, just south of Sargent Avenue. They had made their way safely to the street, at about 2 a.m., as fire crews arrived to try to contain the flames.

The pair stood and watched the Vesta Apartments burn. The damage from the fire was so extensive, the building was set to be demolished later in the day, meaning they and at least 20 other people — all of whom escaped uninjured — are temporarily homeless.

A fire broke out in this apartment building on the 500 block of Agnes Street about 2 a.m. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)
A fire broke out in this apartment building on the 500 block of Agnes Street about 2 a.m. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)

“This is everything we have now,” the woman said, gesturing to her coat and boots.

The fire is believed to have started in one of the upper suites of the building, a block that’s been standing for more than 100 years, based on historical rental listings.

Ihor Holowczynsky of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Services, the assistant chief of fire rescue operations, said crews arrived at about 2:20 a.m., quickly encountered heavy fire and thick smoke and began an offensive attack. Firefighters entered the building but were unable to contain the fire to the suite.

The flames extended to the roof, and the deteriorating conditions made it impossible to battle the fire from inside. Crews began blasting the building using the aerial ladder in an attempt to keep the fire under control, but as of Thursday afternoon it was still smouldering. Smoke was pouring out from the upper units, and the entire roof was basically gone.

Neighbouring buildings were evacuated as a precaution. As tenants watched the events unfolding, the city’s emergency social services team was deployed and a Winnipeg Transit bus arrived to keep the evacuees sheltered, Holowczynsky said.

Fire crews worked all night dealing with the blaze. (City of Winnipeg / Twitter)
Fire crews worked all night dealing with the blaze. (City of Winnipeg / Twitter)

While it’s unclear how the blaze started, the building systems appeared to have been up to code and the fire alarms went off, Holowczynsky said. The building had recently gone up for sale, listed for $1.65 million. The listing states it had recently undergone a furnace upgrade, along with updates to the roofing, fire escape and surveillance system. An investigation into the fire is underway.

No tenants were injured and all have been accounted for, Holowczynsky said.

“Really, considering the events and the situation, that’s the best part of the story,” he said, noting residents couldn’t re-enter the building to retrieve any possessions because the damage was too extensive.

The front left unit on the ground level was completely destroyed by the fire, its contents spilled out amid a pile of charred bricks and burnt window frames — a massive crater where a few hours before, people were living.

“That was our apartment, right above the hole,” the young man on the street corner said, clearly still trying to comprehend his new reality. His cat had been rescued, but none of his other possessions could be.

Contents of at least one suite spilled out in front of the building on Thursday. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)
Contents of at least one suite spilled out in front of the building on Thursday. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)

“That was our apartment,” he added.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca

Fire crews were expected to be at the scene all day. The cause of the fire is under investigation. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)
Fire crews were expected to be at the scene all day. The cause of the fire is under investigation. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)
Ben Waldman

Ben Waldman
Reporter

Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University’s (now Toronto Metropolitan University’s) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben.

Every piece of reporting Ben 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.

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History

Updated on Thursday, December 26, 2019 5:07 PM CST: Fixes cutline.

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