Residents flee apartment fire

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This article was published 10/08/2011 (5195 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A fire that is being investigated as a possible arson caused residents of a St. James-Assiniboia apartment building to flee their homes in nightclothes at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

Emergency services responders went door to door to awaken residents and tell them to evacuate the complex in the 200 block of Fairlane Avenue.

“If it wasn’t for firefighters banging on our door I wouldn’t have woken up,” said Lynda Kidd, who lives in one of the affected apartments with her 13-year-old son and her 72-year-old mother. She said she didn’t hear a fire alarm in the building before firefighters awakened her.

“The alarm didn’t go off. I’m not impressed.”

Officials said the blaze started outside the apartment block and moved up an exterior wall to the roof. The flames then spread inside a vacant unit. In all, smoke, water and fire damaged six units. There were no injuries.

“They just tested our fire alarms a few weeks back,” said Kidd as she stood on the street with her son wrapped in blankets Tuesday morning as fire crews worked. She had briefly been let back into her suite to fetch the blankets and found her residence flooded.

Kidd said construction has been ongoing at the apartments and workers often left lumber outside. She said wood and other debris had been piled at the place where the fire apparently started.

The arson task force is investigating.

Last week, 20-year-old Brandon Sutyla was charged in connection with 18 different arson cases in the Fort Rouge and Fort Garry areas, but the arsons didn’t stop after he was arrested. Another suspicious fire happened Thursday on Fleet Avenue, two days after Sutyla was arrested.

Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Rob Carver said at a press conference last week police are aware of the possibility of copycats.

“It’s tragic but it’s true — we do have people committing copycat crimes,” he said. “Is it a concern in this instance? I think it’s certainly a consideration.”

Adele Peterson, who watched firefighters battle the suspicious blaze on Fairlane Avenue on Tuesday morning, said she’s concerned that the spree of Fort Rouge/Fort Garry arsons might spread throughout Winnipeg.

“I think it’s a lot of what’s been happening,” said Peterson, who has lived in her Fairlane Avenue home across the street from the apartments for 37 years. While she calls the neighbourhood quiet, she says there are growing concerns about vandalism. “You just sort of worry about it.”

Peterson said the apartment block is home to many seniors and families.

“I said to my husband, ‘Look, there’s steam coming up,’ ” said Peterson, who watched from her front yard as the fire spread. “It just zoomed up there.”

Tuesday morning, neighbours milled around in bathrobes and pyjamas, comforting one another and talking.

“Everybody helps everybody,” said Peterson of the tight-knit community.

Damage to the structure is estimated at more that $600,000.

 

— with file from Gabrielle Giroday

tania.kohut@winnipegfreepress.com