Test alarm sounds at St. James apartment block as repairs continue

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This article was published 11/06/2024 (502 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Electronic chirping similar to the sound of a car alarm began at 10 a.m. outside a St. James apartment block.

The siren at Birchwood Terrace (2440 Portage Ave.) was one of two tests to happen Tuesday and is designed to warn people in the area if there is a risk of collapse or change in the stability of the building.

A second alarm is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Roughly 250 residents were ordered to evacuate in early May after it was deemed unsafe when structural damage was discovered in the steel columns of the underground parkade.

One resident in a nearby home sat on his porch watching the construction workers file out of the building toward the muster point at the east corner of Portage Avenue and Assiniboine Crescent.

Pete Michaels said his home is “first in line” of those told to evacuate if the alarm goes off outside the testing times.

He’s lived in his place for 20 years and said he’s not worried about the alarm, adding he thinks it’s mostly a precaution.

“It was kind of not very noisy, (but) we could hear it fine,” Michaels said. “I don’t know how people down the crescent could hear it.”

The siren sounded for 10 minutes before a worker walked along the crescent with a megaphone, saying “all clear.”

Workers then returned to the site.

“This is why we do the testing, to be able to analyze and assess to see what needs to happen,” said Jason Shaw, deputy chief of Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, once the alarm was shut off. “The building owners will determine what needs to happen in terms of the length, duration, style and sound of the alarm system that will be implemented if there was an actual alarm.”

The alarm can be manually set off by someone on site or could be triggered automatically if there are signs of the building weakening, Shaw said.

He couldn’t say if or when the apartment block would be deemed safe again.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that (there’s) an increase in risk,” Shaw said. “I would say that as (the building owners) move through the phases of their mitigation and construction, this is the next phase that they need to do.”

The alarm is expected to be in place for the next three to four weeks, the city said in a news release Monday.

Residents should leave immediately if they hear the siren. Pedestrians and drivers should move away from the area as well.

jura.mcilraith@freepress.mb.ca