Habitat for Humanity store, offices closed after arson: CEO

Habitat for Humanity Manitoba’s Archibald Street store and offices were struck by arson early Thursday morning, the non-profit’s chief executive officer says.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews were sent to 60 Archibald St. at about 5:45 a.m. and found smoke and flames coming from the structure. Crews got the fire under control by about 6:20 a.m.

“We got a call early this morning that there was a fire, and when we arrived… the fire department was on site,” said Habitat’s CEO Jamie Hall. “Security footage shows that someone cut through the fence and then started a fire outside our garage door on the north side of the building, our overhead door.”

Hall said it appears the arsonist broke into the building’s propane storage and used the fuel to start the blaze.

“Our warehouse, which is on the north side of the building, there’s lots of fire damage. As well, the sprinklers went off, so everything that we had — that’s where we take our donations in — so we did have a lot of our product, that was in that warehouse, damaged either by fire or water.”

Water from fire suppression sprinklers inside the building also flooded the ReStore, where bargain building materials are sold to the public.

The building’s main floor, where the store is located, and the second floor, where administrative offices are located, sustained smoke damage, Hall said.

“It was pretty disruptive today and will continue to be. We sent staff home to work from home… and we repositioned our ReStore staff over to our Inkster (Boulevard) location,” said the CEO of the non-profit, which builds affordable homes for low-income families. “We’re still trying to figure things out.”

The Archibald ReStore and head office will be closed until further notice.

Hall said the Archibald Street building had an earlier arson, about a year-and-a-half ago, which caused extensive and expensive damage.

“I don’t like to say it, but we’ve been through this before, and I was surprised at the hundreds of thousands of dollars that a claim like this makes,” said Hall.

“So, we’re starting from scratch again. I expect it’s going to be in the same order of magnitude, that we’ll probably be talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars in terms of our recovery.”

He said it was disappointing to see members of the public come to the ReStore looking to purchase building materials Thursday, only to be turned away.

“It is disappointing, but the hope that I see in this — and I even saw it today — that’s not the spirit of Winnipeg. The spirit of Winnipeg is the people that responded and are helping us, the businesses that were out today, the offers of help that I got, saying: ‘if you need space, volunteers, we’ll be there for you,’” said Hall.

“This is the act of one individual, but it really has shone a light on the good hearts that we have, whether it’s companies or individuals, in our city.”

He said he expects much of the material in the warehouse will be lost, while remediation of the building will take many months.

Police and fire investigators reviewed security footage at the non-profit and at neighbouring businesses on Thursday morning to try to identify the culprit, Hall said.

Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Pat Saydak would only say the fire is under investigation.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca