Thompson sued for ‘reckless’ conduct in drug store fire

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/03/2025 (242 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The company that owns Shoppers Drug Mart is suing the City of Thompson for what it has called “reckless and inexplicable” conduct after one of its drugstores was destroyed by fire in 2023.

In the lawsuit, the company, George Weston Ltd., claims the northern city’s firefighting service failed to properly attend to an initial fire — a fire which then rekindled and led to the loss of the property.

“The actions of (Thompson Fire and Emergency Services) permitted the second fire to spread extensively, causing or contributing to the plaintiff’s losses,” a statement of claim says. “Had (the fire service) conducted a proper overhaul of the first fire and implemented a proper firewatch by trained fire watch personnel equipped with proper PPE, the rekindled fire would have been identified and extinguished.”

The statement of claim was filed last week in the Court of King’s Bench of Manitoba. The allegations have not been proven in court.

During the night of March 9, 2023, around 1:55 a.m., an electrical fire started in a storage room of a Shoppers location in a shopping plaza on Selkirk Avenue, the claim says.

Thompson Fire and Emergency Services “attended the fire and commenced firefighting efforts,” ultimately leaving the property by around 4:37 a.m., the claim says. After this, a second fire — or a reignition of the first fire — was noticed by the building manager around 5:37 a.m., it adds. This fire resulted in the total loss of the location, as well as of the inventory and improvements that had been made to the location, it says.

The lawsuit alleges these damages were caused by negligence on behalf of the city, including a failure to ensure that the original fire had been extinguished, with no possibility of restarting, before departing the location; a failure to “institute a reasonable, adequate fire watch by trained, qualified personnel”; and a failure to “adhere to industry and regulatory standards related to the extinguishment and investigation of fires.”

CBC News has reported the fire forced a number of other business in the shopping centre to relocate. Soon after the fire, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak posted on Facebook that patients of the drugstore were being transferred to a different pharmacy in the city.

A representative for the City of Thompson could not be reached by publication time. The lawyer for George Weston Ltd. also could not be reached immediately.

— with files from Eric Pindera

marsha.mcleod@freepress.mb.ca