Downtown restaurant blaze rekindles fire fears

Another downtown restaurant burned early Thursday, reigniting concerns over a rash of fires that have plagued the city’s downtown and Exchange District neighbourhoods in recent months.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews were sent to the latest blaze at Boujee Restaurant & Bar — the former Earls on Main Street — at 191 Main St. shortly after 5:45 a.m.

Crews declared the fire under control within an hour, the WFPS said in a news release, but fire and Winnipeg Police Service investigators remained on site throughout the day. No injuries were reported.

The location was briefly a seafood eatery before co-owner Amit Saini and his partners opened Boujee in the spring of 2024.

“We are just devastated,” he said. “This is our baby. I don’t have much more to say right now. We are still trying to figure things out here. It’s under investigation with the Winnipeg police, so until they are done, I don’t want to comment any more on it.”

Saini told the Free Press last year that the location, near The Forks, was “perfect.”

Shaun Jeffrey, head of the Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association, said he feels “immensely” for the owners of Boujee, noting how much effort they put into creating a great environment and rebranding the building.

“My heart just goes out to them,” he said. “They’re a restaurant that’s a local operator trying to provide a great hospitality environment to Manitoba and to Winnipeggers.”

Several city restaurants have been hit by arson this year, including Thida’s Thai Restaurant on Donald Street and Mae Sunee Thai Cuisine on Erin Street in July. Police believe they were targeted attacks.

Security video from both Thai restaurants showed the attackers breaking into both properties in the early morning before trying to ignite Molotov cocktails.

In one video posted to Facebook, two men were seen at the Donald Street restaurant on July 4. One, wearing a mask, smashed the glass with a hammer, then tried to light an object on fire. When that failed, another object was ignited and thrown into a booth. Police arrived quickly and stopped the fire from spreading.

Commonwealth Kitchen & Bar was also set ablaze in July. Owner Nikola Maharajh said Thursday it appeared to be a random act. The fire at the 456 Main St. restaurant was quickly extinguished, but the sprinkler system caused extensive flooding, leaving several centimetres of water in the basement.

Maharajh said surveillance video showed a man using a brick or cinder block to smash three windows before throwing something inside that ignited a booth.

“I’m sure the police have their hands full with all the fires,” he said Thursday, his establishment still shuttered as repairs continue. “As a victim of one of the fires, it would be reassuring if we started seeing progress, whether with arrests or prevention. Seeing that these fires are still happening is not a good feeling, as someone who is trying to reopen their business. I should note, it has been nice to see more police foot patrol presence the last few months.”

Johnny G’s and Exchange Event Centre were torched in August, with both fires being investigated as arson, police said. No arrests have been made. Both buildings remained closed and boarded up on Thursday.

“Small businesses already face so many challenges, and an incident like this adds even more pressure,” said Downtown Winnipeg Biz chief executive officer Kate Fenske in an email. “There have been a few restaurant fires in recent months in Winnipeg, including downtown, and while we don’t yet know the cause of this one, it’s important to allow the investigation to run its course. Boujee has been a downtown destination for a lot of folks since it opened last year and we hope it can reopen soon.”

Thursday’s fire is another example of an out-of-control problem in Winnipeg, said United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Nick Kasper.

“Structure fires have increased by 87 per cent in Winnipeg,” Kasper said, citing data from 2019 to 2023. “Vacant structure fires have increased by 245 per cent. And it shows no signs of slowing down. We’re heading into the winter months, and we typically see more structure fires the colder it gets, for a multitude of reasons.”

The union leader couldn’t speak to the cause of Thursday’s blaze, but said Winnipeg is Canada’s arson capital, and only one fire investigator is on shift trying to keep up with an overwhelming demand.

“We have concerns there,” he said. “And just in terms of strains on our resources. Call volumes have skyrocketed, but our fire department has shrunk. We had more firefighters and trucks on duty in 1975 than we do today, 50 years later. I still can’t believe it when that comes out of my mouth.”

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Jeffrey said investing in security measures has become a necessity — a challenging and costly move amid “monumental increases in crime” affecting the industry since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The problem is four out of 10 of our businesses are only breaking even or losing money every month, so they can’t afford to spend $6,000 to $7,000 on a security system,” he said.

Jeffrey expressed confidence the province will follow through on its business security rebate program, announced in the 2025 budget, after the recent return of the residential rebate program earlier this month. That initiative allows Manitobans to claim up to $300 for certain security systems, such as doorbell cameras.

“We need it now,” Jeffrey said. “We’re in a holding pattern, both from a financial liability standpoint of being able to invest security-based dollars in our businesses, but also to be able to really allocate the resources to make our businesses safer.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

Every piece of reporting Scott produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.