Road work forces temporary closure of St. Vital fire-paramedic station

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/08/2025 (223 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A fire-paramedic station in St. Vital has been temporarily closed as the city completes a roadwork project in the area.

The closure has stoked concerns about further delays to south Winnipeg’s fire response times, which are already dangerously slow, United Firefighters of Winnipeg president Nick Kasper said.

The city shuttered Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Station 26, on Dakota Street, Sunday, an internal memo states. A section of the street, between Warde Avenue and John Forsyth Road, will be closed for asphalting, so crew and fire aparatus working out of the station are being moved.

“We do not know how long this work will take or how long this relocation will be. It is anticipated that the work could take a couple of weeks,” the memo, viewed by the Free Press, states.

The crews and equipment operating from the station will be sent to Station 14 (1057 St. Mary’s Rd.), Station 12 (1780 Taylor Ave.) and Station 30 (524 Osborne St.), the memo said.

WFPS spokesperson Kristin Cuma confirmed the temporary closure in a statement to the Free Press Sunday.

She said the relocation is only expected to last for one or two days.

“Any time roadwork creates a barrier for an efficient response, WFPS crews are relocated to ensure they can respond as quickly as possible,” she said.

“We strive to keep crews in their assigned station, but in cases where that isn’t possible, we work to ensure all areas of the city have the most effective coverage for emergency response possible.”

Kasper warned relocating crews will impede fire response times, pointing to a fire that destroyed a St. Vital home last weekend. No fire engine was available at Station 26 to respond to the blaze, so crews had to be sent there from stations elsewhere in the city.

The union leader said it took firefighters more than nine minutes to arrive at the Southwalk Bay fire — more than double the national four-minute standard.

“This is symptom of a bigger issue. We know that WFPS apparatus availability across the city is well below what it should be,” Kasper said in a phone interview.

Station 14, where the fire engine from Station 26 is being temporarily relocated, is more than three kilometres away.

“We will have a repeat of what we just witnessed last week if the closest truck is 10 minutes away,” Kasper said. “It’s absolutely essential we do everything we can to ensure apparatus are available in their home stations.”

Cuma said, sometimes, the crew that is first to arrive on a fire scene is not coming from the closest station.

“They can be on the road already or coming from their home station. This is determined by what other incidents are ongoing and which crews and specialties are available to deploy,” she said.

Kasper also took aim at the WFPS for what he described as dangerous deficiencies with staffing.

A fire engine and a ladder truck were non-operational Saturday, the union said, because the fire department did not have the staff necessary to run them.

—with files from Nicole Buffie

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca