‘I literally have nothing’: tenants lament losses after blaze

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This article was published 07/03/2024 (591 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More than 50 Winnipeggers are left with little or nothing after escaping a fire which ravaged an apartment complex Tuesday afternoon.

Catherine Robichaud, 26, was on a work-related call as tech support for Disney+ streaming service when her colleague pointed out a beeping sound coming from her end.

“I paused my work meeting and then go to open my door and lo and behold, there was smoke billowing out from the apartment next door to mine,” she said Thursday morning.

“I grabbed my cats, my phone, my keys and I got out of there.”

As she made it out of her apartment building at 774 Toronto St., she could see the flames had already engulfed her bathroom while she stood across the street.

Firefighters rushed to the brick building in the Daniel McIntyre neighbourhood after a 911 call at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Crews showed up to heavy smoke coming from the building and were forced to fight the blaze from the outside. The fire rendered the building, near the Health Sciences Centre, a complete loss.

Winnipeg police and the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service said Thursday the cause of the blaze remains unclear.

Mark Head was at work when he received a call from his mother, whom he lives with, that their building was burning.

“She only made it out with a jacket and her slippers,” he said.

The City of Winnipeg said all 54 residents were marked safe and no one was injured. On Tuesday, city social services staff was on hand to help tenants find temporary accommodations.

Several GoFundMe fundraisers have been set up to support displaced residents.

Robichaud is lucky to have found refuge at her mom’s house while she looks for alternative housing, but said that’s all she has left.

Robichaud, nor Head, have renter’s insurance.

“I literally have nothing,” Robichaud said.

After the blaze, Head and his mother connected with the Red Cross and were put up in a hotel room, but only for three days. After that, the 36-year-old doesn’t know where they’ll stay.

“We’re trying to get housing because we’re running out of time,” he said.

Both Head and Robichaud say the building was rife with problems.

While the rent was affordable — Robichaud paid $737 for a two-bedroom on the third floor — the 26-year-old mother of two said she had nothing but problems in the four months she lived in the 111-year-old building. She said the building didn’t have a working dryer and the heat in her second bedroom didn’t work.

The 15-suite, three-storey brick block was built in 1913, according to the Manitoba Historical Society. It was originally named Sylvia Apartments before being renamed Glenora Apartments in 1936.

“You get what you get in those buildings,” Robichaud said.

Head said the building, managed by D-7 Properties, didn’t have a sprinkler system and the fire alarms in his unit hardly worked. It was only after his mother smelled smoke that she opened the front door and saw black smoke in the hallway.

“That building was full of red flags,” he said.

D-7 didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.

While all but few things were lost in the fire, Robichaud is paying no mind to the stuff she has to replace.

“Those are materialistic things … nobody was hurt. That’s what matters,” she said.

“I’m not the only one who lost my home, 53 other people lost their homes as well. It breaks my heart.”

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca