Ross Avenue house demolished after four fires in 10 days

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This article was published 18/04/2023 (874 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A pile of burnt timbers and rubble were all that was left of a house on Ross Avenue after the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service ordered the structure be knocked down, following four fires in 10 days.

The latest was Monday evening, when firefighters raced to the boarded-up two-storey house on the 500 block, between Isabel and Sherbrook streets, in the city’s core.

Crews reported heavy smoke and flames jutting from the home when they arrived around 5:40 p.m., and began to fight it from the outside, as the blaze had it too dangerous to enter, WFPS said. A ladder truck was employed to spray water on the burning building from above.

Officials later determined the structure was a complete loss and ordered its demolition.

The first blaze in the home was April 8. City emergency social service workers responded to that fire to help four residents find a place to stay, before the building was boarded up.

The newly vacant home burned twice more, with crews responding April 10 and 12, before the final blaze that left the structure gutted.

WFPS assistant chief Scott Wilkinson was unable to say whether any of the Ross Avenue fires were arson. He noted fires in vacant buildings are often either intentionally set or accidentally lit by people who have illegally entered.

“We don’t have official investigative results in many of these cases because they’re pending or also because of the level of damage,” he told reporters Tuesday.

Crews are typically called to fires in vacant buildings later than one in an occupied structure, as people don’t notice the blazes as easily, creating more danger for firefighters and the public as the blazes are then “well-involved,” Wilkinson said.

Fires like the three recent events on Ross Avenue and one that destroyed two vacant duplexes on Manitoba Avenue on Tuesday are taxing WFPS resources and personnel, he added.

“Every time our crews go, we have a large number of apparatuses, multiple engines, rescue units, aerial ladders, our (emergency medical service) and paramedic units, and the biggest issue is that it devotes resources there that could be available for other calls,” Wilkinson said, adding it can lead to unneeded delays for other emergency calls.

WFPS began issuing invoices for fire services to property owners whose burned buildings fall under the City of Winnipeg’s vacant building bylaw, Wilkinson said — though he could not say if the Ross Avenue home fit those parameters.

About nine such invoices have been issued to date, but no payments have yet been received, he said.

The fires on Ross Avenue were taxing on 41-year-old neighbour Idil Timayare and her eight children, too.

“It was scary,” Timayare said, adding she was pleased Tuesday when she saw the home had been torn down.

“That’s much better, otherwise, the fires would keep happening,” she said, adding people could be hurt. “It’s better like this.”

However, Timayare hopes the pile of rubble is soon carted off to further deter any potential firebugs.

One of her children asked her to leave, in light of the recent fires, Timayare said, but she told him they cannot afford to move from the house they’ve rented since 2018.

The house that burned had been home to a quiet family with children until about three months ago, she said. The new tenants appeared to be a group of friends, Timayare said.

Carla Walker, 32, also lives nearby on Ross Avenue with her six children, for whom she was making lunch mid-day Tuesday.

After the family moved from the now-demolished house, random people started showing up at the home and hanging around, she said.

“I just keep seeing fires there,” she said. “(It made me) kind of worried because of my kids. What if it bounced to my roof or something?”

Walker said she, too, feels safer now that the house has been demolished.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera