Night of the infernos Firefighting resources strained as crews battle six overnight blazes in three hours By: Tyler Searle Posted: 8:39 AM CDT Tuesday, May. 12, 2026 Last Modified: 6:18 PM CDT Tuesday, May. 12, 2026 Updates

Winnipeg firefighters were run ragged Tuesday as they battled blazes at six vacant buildings in a three-hour span that began just after midnight.

The blazes, at primarily inner-city properties, pushed the fire service to the brink as it scrambled to stop the flames from reaching neighbouring homes, Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service deputy chief Scott Wilkinson said later in the day.

“It was a huge strain on our system,” he said. “We had the same crews going to repeat fires and a number of fires (burning) simultaneously. It’s a huge demand on our crews both physically and emotionally.”

Preliminary reviews suggest some of the fires were sparked from the exterior of the buildings, causing concern among investigators, Wilkinson said.

“Vacant buildings as a whole, they are not starting themselves (on fire) accidentally as we would see in an occupied building, so there’s definitely concerns that these are incendiary or possibly arson,” he said.

“We don’t know for sure if they’re related to the same or similar individuals, but it’s something we’re working closely with the police service on.”

United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Nick Kasper said it is critically important for the WFPS to expand its investigative team.

“That is where we are seriously falling short,” he said. “There is no way that one investigator can investigate all of those incidents, which means we’re not fulfilling our responsibility… if you don’t determine the cause of the fire, there can be no criminal investigation.”

Wilkinson acknowledged that having such a high number of fires in a short time is especially challenging because the fire service typically has only one fire investigator on call at any given time.

WFPS has hired an additional investigator and brought on a canine unit in recent years, but the service is still looking to add more, he said.

“When we have that many fires, we’re obviously triaging, they’re holding scenes, working with the police and trying to find ways to get to them all,” he said.

“Sometimes… multiple investigators are coming on during the day to catch up and manage those.”

One of the fires involved a vacant two-storey house on the 200 block of Powers Street, which has burned numerous times in recent years.

Firefighters were called to the building at about 12:30 a.m. and found heavy smoke and flames. They opted to launch an exterior attack because it was not safe to go inside, WFPS said in a news release.

The fire, which was declared under control at just before 1:10 a.m., caused massive damage to the vacant property and spread to an adjacent garage.

The woman who owns the garage said it will likely need to be demolished. She spent Tuesday afternoon sifting through the smoke-damaged and water-logged possessions that had been stored in the building. She tried to salvage what she could.

She has lived next door to 274 Powers St. since 2010 and said it has been a magnet for fires, crime and drug use for most of that time. She fears the next time it catches fire, the flames could leap to her home.

“It’s burned in my mind. I could see the shingles of my garage roof on fire,” she said, describing how she awakened to the sound of the fire engines.

“I’m playing Russian roulette on a daily basis on when these places are going to be set on fire again.”

The man who owns the empty home is also the owner of two adjacent properties at 266 and 270 Powers St. — both of which are boarded-up, burned-out husks.

The Free Press tried to reach him by phone and email, but he did not respond.

The City of Winnipeg sued him in January 2024 as it sought to recover $17,000 in unpaid inspection bills and fees related to the properties. A review of court records shows the case is unresolved.

Darrell Warren, president of the William Whyte Neighbourhood Association, said the Powers Street properties represent the scourge of vacant and derelict buildings that litter his community.

“The owner of that particular property, obviously, has no regard for the neighbouring properties,” Warren said. “My biggest fear when we have these fires is that a neighbouring house will go ahead and start on fire and maybe somebody will get hurt or die.”

Currently, 763 properties are under enforcement of the Vacant Building Bylaw, including 599 residential properties, a spokesperson for the city said in an email.

Warren estimated as many as 200 of those properties are in his neighbourhood.

“We have to go ahead and clean these properties up because what we are doing now is not working. We are just putting a Band-Aid effect on it by boarding these houses up and we all know it’s just a matter of time before there’s another fire.”

Fires at vacant or derelict homes, particularly those that have burned in the past, present increased hazards for firefighters. They can be structurally unstable and burn more quickly than homes that are occupied and maintained, Wilkinson said.

The deputy chief acknowledged the problem is concentrated in neighbourhoods such as William Whyte, Daniel McIntyre and the North End.

The inner-city communities have a high number of vacant and derelict homes. The City of Winnipeg requires owners of such properties to ensure the buildings are secure, but Wilkinson said doing so can be challenging.

“You have to stay on top of it, people are continually trying to get in,” he said. “We just need to continue to double down on everything that the mayor and council and the city departments have already done.”

The city has moved to strengthen enforcement of its vacant and derelict property bylaws. In December, it unveiled a proposal to tweak tax-sale timelines and take title of properties from non-compliant owners without compensation, among other things.

Coun. Evan Duncan, who chairs the property and development committee, did not respond to an interview request about vacant and derelict homes on Tuesday.

The fire service did not provide updated statistics on the number of fires reported in such properties in 2026, but said that data will be compiled and released publicly in the coming weeks.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca