Three homes damaged in Glenelm fire

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This article was published 28/08/2024 (464 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two people, including a firefighter, needed medical attention after a blaze in the Glenelm area spread to two neighbouring homes and a garage Wednesday morning.

Crews were sent to a two-storey house at 74 Cobourg Ave., between Beatrice Street and Glenwood Crescent and a few streets north of Elmwood Cemetery, at 6:40 a.m.

Firefighters tried to fight the blaze from inside but had to exit because of the conditions. They later went inside to fully extinguish the fire.

Crews went into the other two homes and the garage but had to exit one of them, a 1 1/2-storey house, because of deteriorating conditions. Firefighters used an aerial ladder truck to spray water on the blaze and protect a fourth house.

A resident who lives across the street said she was startled awake around 6 a.m. from a loud “bang” coming from one of the homes.

“I went outside and there was fire trucks everywhere,” said the resident, who asked not to be named.

Everyone in the three houses got out on their own. One person was assessed by paramedics but did not require transport to hospital, and a firefighter was also given medical attention.

A Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service accelerant detection dog was seen sniffing around the scene Wednesday morning while fire crews blocked off several surrounding streets.

A cat was found dead in the house where the fire started. That home, and the 1 1/2-storey house, sustained significant damage. The other house and its garage sustained moderate damage, the WFPS said in a news release.

Earlier Wednesday, crews extinguished a fire in a two-storey residential dwelling on the 600 block of Selkirk Avenue. Firefighters were sent to the scene shortly before 6 a.m. and declared the blaze under control at about a half-hour later.

Residents exited the building before crews arrived. The City of Winnipeg’s emergency social services team was sent there to help displaced residents find temporary accommodations.