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This article was published 18/2/2015 (2646 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A fire in a two-storey home in the 600-block of Elgin Avenue on Wednesday night destroyed one home and seriously damaged the two-storey house next door.
Both homes, at 617 and 615 Elgin Ave., were unoccupied, so there were no reports of any injuries.
"We saw the firefighters come and they kicked open the door (on the first house)," said Raven, 15, who lived across the street with her mother Sandra.
"It was pretty scary to see, the flames got up as high as those trees (about four metres high)."
Neighbours said blaze appeared to have started in the first house at 617 Elgin, which had been empty since the summer. A couple planning to rent it had just arrived to see the house, only to find it was on fire.
PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Extreme cold hampered firefighters' efforts to battle a house fire in the 600 block of Elgin Avenue just east of Sherbrook Street Wednesday evening. One unoccupied house was destroyed and the unoccupied house next to it sustained damage in the blaze.
Sandra's car was parked on the street slightly east of house 617, but firefighters couldn’t allow her to move the car because of safety concerns. The car was coated in a sheet of ice from the water used to battle the blaze.
"I don’t know if the heat from the flames has done anything to the other side of my car. I sure hope not," Sandra said.
The second house that caught fire had also been empty for some time. It had been for sale for about a year, but Sandra said she heard someone recently bought it.
Though firefighters responded quickly and had the blaze surrounded, about an hour into their fight the flames jumped to the westside neighbouring home at 615 Elgin.
After about 90 minutes, fire crews had the second home’s blaze extinguished, but flames in the first house began to shoot out of the roof and beneath an eavestrough on the east side of the house.
Several firefighters were on the roof of the burning house fighting the flames while another crew battled it from the ground in front and to the sides of the house.
No further information was available on the damage to the two homes.
ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca
