Body pulled from West End drug house after fire; owner was in process of evicting tenants

The owner of a troubled rental property on Langside Street was stunned to learn that a fire ripped through the home Thursday morning, killing at least one person.

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service confirmed crews received reports of a house fire on the 500 block of Langside Street just after 4:30 a.m. Fire response data published online shows nearly two dozen units, including 10 fire engines, were involved in the call.

Shortly before 10 a.m., first responders unloaded a body from the back of an ambulance parked in the alleyway behind the home at 584 Langside St.

The remains, covered with a white bag, were moved into a black van belonging to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which departed shortly after.

The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear. WFPS deferred comment on the situation to the Winnipeg Police Service, which did not provide additional information.

Numerous police units, including uniformed officers and forensic investigators were on scene throughout the morning and afternoon.

Yonas Zeru, who owns the house, said he had no idea it had been involved in a fire until a Free Press reporter contacted him at about 1 p.m.

“Oh wow, terrible. That is very bad,” Zeru said when he learned the news.

“I am going to go there now. Usually, when something happens, the fire department calls, but nobody called.”

Zeru had many questions about the fire, included how and where it originated. He said three tenants were on the rental agreement, but the home was frequently inundated with people who used it as a place to consume drugs.

It was not uncommon for Zeru to visit the house and find up to 20 people inside who did not belong. The property owner was in the process of evicting the tenants, who had not paid rent in some time, he said.

Roy Love, who lives in an apartment building behind the house, said he woke up to the sound of fire crews responding to the scene around 5 a.m.

“I could see the lights coming up (from the fire trucks)… I knew it was early because the sun wasn’t up,” said Love, whose apartment window overlooks the home.

“I could see the black smoke coming out through the second storey… you could see flames.”

Love has lived nearby since January. He said he often saw people entering and leaving the house at all hours of the night.

The house was the target of a police raid in recent weeks involving officers in tactical gear and an armoured vehicle equipped with a battering ram, he added.

“I’m sorry to hear that somebody might have passed, but I’m not sorry to see it go. It means I’m going to get more sleep,” he said.

Zeru said he spoke with police after the raid and they told him “there was a very dangerous person there.”

Michael Paille, who owns a collectibles store located on Sargent Avenue, said he, too, witnessed the raid.

He described the property as a “problem house.”

“We try to clean up the area, but we can’t clean up the area when these houses are closed by police on Monday and reopen Tuesday,” he said.

Additional paramedics and fire investigators continued to arrive as the morning wore on, but crews began clearing the scene before 11 a.m. The fire was call was officially closed at 1:30 p.m., according to the WFPS response log.

The home at 584 Langside suffered the most damage, but two nearby homes appear to have been affected; one was boarded-up and vacant.

It is unclear whether anybody else was injured or killed in the fire.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca