Former school burns in suspicious Pine Falls fire

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This article was published 16/10/2023 (921 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former school in Powerview-Pine Falls has burned to the ground in what RCMP are calling a suspicious fire.

RCMP were sent to the historic Pine Falls School on Walnut Street in the town about 120 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg at around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, spokeswoman Cpl. Julie Courchaine said Monday.

Mounties and the local fire department arrived to find the former elementary/high school ablaze.

“At this time, the cause of the fire appears to be suspicious,” RCMP said in a news release Monday afternoon.

“The older section, the original section of the school, was totally decimated, and the newer part was saved.”–Mayor Wes Barclay

The Office of the Fire Commissioner is assisting RCMP with the investigation.

The school closed in 2007, and has since sat empty, Mayor Les Barclay said.

Barclay said the building was privately owned, although RCMP called it “abandoned.”

“It was just locked up,” the mayor said. “The older section, the original section of the school, was totally decimated, and the newer part was saved.”

Barclay said he went to the scene Saturday night, and stayed late as firefighters — including some from Lac du Bonnet and Sagkeeng First Nation — and RCMP officers worked.

The Powerview-Pine Falls fire department was still at the scene Monday morning, looking for hot spots and controlling the area, the mayor said.

“It was one of our oldest historic buildings in Powerview-Pine Falls, and we’re all very shaken on it. It’s very upsetting.”–Mayor Wes Barclay

Barclay said the community is saddened by the loss.

“It was one of our oldest historic buildings in Powerview-Pine Falls, and we’re all very shaken on it. It’s very upsetting,” he said. “At this point, the building’s not there. Nobody’s injured, that’s the best part of it.”

The original structure was built in 1926, and had been designated by the Manitoba Historical Society as an historic site.

“We’re very upset. Nobody wanted to see it happen. It being a heritage building, it’s a very hard thing to see,” the mayor said. “It’s just a very tragic event.”

Barclay later added he did not want to comment on RCMP calling the fire suspicious, as he did not yet have additional information.

Patrick Watson, 72, was close to falling asleep in his apartment when his daughter phoned him Saturday night to tell him the nearby building was engulfed in flames.

“I looked out the window and I could see the flames, really high,” Watson said Monday. “Forty, 50 feet, it was high — the flames were really blowing out of there.”

Watson said when he went out the next morning to look at the scene, there was “nothing left” of the school he had attended until Grade 8 in his youth.

“It’s rubble. It’s terrible,” he said. “My whole family… we all went to school there for a few years.”

He added it was “devastating” to see the historic building gone.

RCMP are asking anyone with information to call the Powerview detachment at 204-367-8728 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).

St. Jean Baptiste evacuates some residents after grain elevator fire

Some 200 km southwest, a historic but still-in-use grain elevator in St. Jean Baptiste also burned over the weekend.

The community’s volunteer fire chief said crews were still working at the scene Monday afternoon.

“We’re still on site,” Eugene Fillion said.

Members were called to the blaze on Caron Street at about 3:20 a.m. Saturday, and quickly got in touch with eight regional fire departments to help battle the flames.

“We assessed the scene and quickly started evacuating the people living right within the area of the elevator,” Fillion said. “We moved about 50 people, 60 people… We did our due diligence to get life safety out first.”

The departments also worked on protecting other nearby structures.

“We had about 60, 70 firefighters. It worked out, we didn’t lose anybody’s life,” Fillion said, adding surrounding houses and buildings were saved apart from some melted siding.

He said a single grain bin was still burning Monday, and parts of the site will need to be demolished.

The Rural Municipality of Montcalm’s street-cleaning vehicles were employed to assist on community roadways.

“Ashes were all over the place,” Fillion said.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca