Another fire at Point Douglas industrial building

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This article was published 20/09/2023 (763 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A frustrated property owner says conflicting government orders are delaying work to clean up the remains of his building, which this week caught fire for the second time since July.

At 11:58 p.m. Tuesday, Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responded to a blaze at the charred remains of the former Vulcan Iron Works foundry at Sutherland Avenue and Maple Street North, which a previous fire gutted on July 4. No injuries were reported.

Property owner Sheldon Blank said he’s eager to clean up the rubble, which residents have labelled a smelly eyesore, but provincial stop-work orders for the site must be addressed first.

“You’re being told by the province you can’t go in there, (while) you’re being told by the city you’ve got to do it … There’s no interest, in my part, to delay the demolition,” he said.

Blank said obtaining a demolition permit also takes time and is “not something you can snap your fingers and do.”

Provincial orders for the site were issued July 11, while the city issued an order on Sept. 5 for the owner to “mitigate unsafe conditions” at the same property, which Blank says left him caught inbetween.

“If I had permission, I would have that place cleaned up in a month or six weeks,” he said.

The property owner said he’s also frustrated the site has long been described as vacant, stressing it had a tenant right up to the July fire and its security has been monitored since.

“The building was never empty, and talk about a vacant building is misleading and incorrect,” said Blank.

He did not have insurance.

“In many cases, you can’t get insurance (in this area). I stopped looking for insurance because it was impossible to get it,” said Blank.

He said such sites attract break-ins and theft, especially for copper; he suspects the fire may be connected to such an intrusion. Blank said people were spotted breaking a fence to enter the site earlier on Tuesday.

He said he’s tried, without success, for two and a half years to sell the property.

In an email, city spokeswoman Deborah Bowers said the city issued its order to bring the site into compliance with city bylaws. The owner’s appeal of the order will be heard on Dec. 4.

“We will wait for a decision from the Dec. 4 meeting before considering any remediation action,” wrote Bowers.

A provincial spokesperson confirmed two Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health stop-work orders for the site remain in effect. The first prevents people from entering the remaining structures to perform work, unless it’s deemed safe by an engineer or the structure is demolished. The other requires a plan be completed to address the potential asbestos risk before work begins.

“Manitoba takes asbestos management very seriously, as asbestos-linked disease is a leading cause of occupational illness and death,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The WFPS says crews found heavy smoke and flames when they arrived at the fire late Tuesday and extinguished it by around 4 a.m. Wednesday.

Sharon Johnson, a Point Douglas resident, said the second fire has raised new concerns about hazardous materials.

“These things are reoccurring at such a ferocious rate … (and) having (debris) left around is really demoralizing for everyone. When you’re actually near the site, the smell, even months after, is really pervasive,” said Johnson.

In July, the WFPS said the site contained chemicals, vehicles and tires.

“There’s a lot of concern about what happens now and the contamination on these sites, because there doesn’t seem to be anybody responsible for the follow-through,” said Johnson.

She also supports a recent motion at city hall calling for municipal crews to clean up demolition debris when a property owner doesn’t and then charge the owner a fee for the work.

Coun. Cindy Gilroy raised the motion, which will be considered by council’s property and development committee next month.

“(This fire is) another prime example of (why) we have to clean it up. It’s just a danger zone for everybody,” said Gilroy.

City staff have warned the municipal government could lose money by following such a practice.

Gilroy said the city and province must also find a solution to deal with asbestos more efficiently to speed up the process for removing debris.

“There (are) ways of cleaning it up, where it is safe … so the city and the province need to sit down and figure this out,” she said. “This is really a growing issue.”

Debris-filled lots have triggered headlines in recent months.

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A property at 694 Sherbrook St. is still covered in debris after fire destroyed a three-storey apartment block in February 2022. And the owner of Surplus Direct, one of three businesses that burned down in the 800 block of Main Street on Feb. 11, has also blamed a dispute over asbestos for holding up the cleanup of his site.

The causes of both fires at the Vulcan Iron Works site remain under investigation, according to the WFPS. In a statement, the service said vacant buildings are generally at greater risk of fire, and multiple fires at such properties are “not uncommon.”

The WFPS has responded to 106 vacant-building fires since Jan. 1.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga

Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne 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.