Man, children hospitalized after fire

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This article was published 02/05/2023 (859 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three children and a man are in the hospital after a fire in the Transcona neighbourhood Tuesday night.

“He was bleeding a little bit here,” Pamela Mng said, gesturing to a spot on the grass outside where she saw her uncle being treated by paramedics.

Mng said her uncle was sleeping inside the two-storey home at 309 Yale Ave. West when it caught fire. He and his three children, all under the age of 12, were rushed to hospital.

While she does not know the extent of their wounds, she said her uncle appeared to have severe burns on his feet, and her cousins were having difficulty breathing.

“The kids were not really in good condition because of the smoke. They were taken to the hospital. To Health Sciences Centre,” she said.

She believes the fire started around 7 p.m.

Firefighters were still on the scene two hours later, but the blaze had been extinguished and they were packing up their gear.

The home and a neighbouring residence appeared to have suffered significant damage.

The front doors on both houses were left open, with blackened walls visible from the outside. Insulation and building materials had been ripped out by firefighters and piled out-front.

Mng said her aunt, who lives at the home but was not there when the fire started, called to alert her mother about the blaze.

“The way she was talking on the phone, we knew something was wrong,” said Mng. “I was just thinking, is everyone OK?”

Mng, who lives a few blocks away, rushed over. She was stunned to see the extent of the damage when she arrived on scene.

Now the family is awaiting news about the injured children, she said.

She believes one of the children may have been cooking something and it caught fire, causing the blaze.