Main Street business fire ‘huge impact to our community’

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This article was published 13/02/2023 (938 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

AUDREY KOHINSKY was awakened by fire crews banging on her door and the smell of smoke in the early hours Saturday.

She first thought her North Point Douglas home was on fire. Out her front window, she saw a thick, dark fog and ash in the air.

“I packed up my cats, out the door I went,” she told the Free Press from her home Monday.

By 4:30 a.m., she joined her neighbours on the street and packed into a bus provided by Winnipeg Transit as three long-standing businesses on the 800 block of Main Street were destroyed in a massive fire.

Crews stayed on scene into Sunday as the blaze overtook Surplus Direct Liquidation, Lord Selkirk Furniture and Top Pro Roofing Ltd. — 843, 835 and 847 Main St., respectively.

Around 25 people were waiting in the bus to be allowed back to their homes, Kohinsky said, as fire crews worried about the air quality.

A nearby three-storey apartment building was also evacuated. It suffered smoke damage, but homes nearby appear fine, Kohinsky said, apart from being hit with light debris from the fire.

“There was a feeling of, ‘Please don’t let our houses go up in flames,’ for sure. That was our primary concern, that our homes were in jeopardy, as well, because it was in the back alley, it was right there.”

She stayed on the bus for four hours, spent time with a friend, and returned to her home at 2 p.m.

“I’m thankful that our house didn’t catch fire with embers, because they were floating pretty good, and the toxic smoke was pretty bad,” she said. “It was good on the Winnipeg fire department to evacuate us because some of us might have gotten really sick.”

Fifteen homes on Austin Street North were evacuated due to smoke, along with an apartment building at 187-189 Jarvis Ave., according to a statement from the WFPS.

City emergency social services helped 24 displaced residents find alternative housing.

To watch a fire wipe out three nearby businesses in one fell swoop was hard to see, Kohinsky said.

“It’s devastating. I mean, those buildings have been here since I was a little girl,” she said. “So for our community to lose those businesses is quite an impact. It’s going to definitely put a mark on this community.”

Standing outside the fenced-off rubble that was once a retail store, Harvey Rempel gestures to a railing sitting amongst the remnants. It had been used as a makeshift gathering place.

“That little railing there was where people would often just sit and hang out in the evenings, stuff like that, as the sun was going down,” he said.

“I think just visually, symbolically, it’s a huge loss indicative of just some of the largest struggles that are going on around here.”

Rempel moved into the area more than 20 years ago. He works with gang-involved youth and their families.

“This is already a stretch of Main Street that’s been struggling for a while now, so this isn’t going to help,” he said.

The Free Press was not able to reach the owner of Surplus Direct.

Top Pro Roofing employees were at the site Monday, but did not want to speak about the fire. A Lord Selkirk Furniture employee said management would not comment, noting staff were “just grieving right now.”

Coun. Vivian Santos (Point Douglas) said losing anything that offers affordability for her constituents has an obvious impact. When there isn’t a furniture store or discount shop available within walking distance, it puts up barriers.

“Now they have to think about where they’re going to travel to to get a couch or where are they going to travel to to grab a car seat that was so easily accessible at a nearby business,” Santos said.

“I really hope that they’re able to either rebuild or at least, if something’s going to go there, it be something similar — because this will be a huge impact to our community, especially those who are under-served.”

The site had previously made headlines after a nearly decade-long legal dispute between Surplus Direct and Top Pro over an emergency fire exit.

In 2013, Surplus Direct filed a lawsuit against Top Pro, accusing the other business of blocking its fire door, which was on a shared exterior wall between the two.

The complaint resulted in Surplus Direct owner Robert McDonald being ordered to vacate the building by the City of Winnipeg, which alleged the door and other parts of the building were not up to code. At the time, the order was put on hold until the lawsuit was completed.

The order to vacate was later appealed before The Standing Policy Committee on Property and Development, Heritage and Downtown Development on Feb. 15 2022. The committee voted to cancel the order.

McDonald had argued the door had been built in the 1940s, thus grandfathering it into the present day and making it unnecessary to force the business to hold it to modern standards.

In July 2021, a judge ruled the door was likely built in the 1980s.

malak.abas@freepress.mb