An early morning fire forced dozens of Winnipeggers from their home and caused approximately $250,000 in damages on Sunday, said police.
Earlier estimated pegged the damage at $200,000.
The blaze started in the lower level of an apartment block on Westminster Ave. It broke out before 6:00 a.m.
Instead of their alarm clocks, tenants were woken up by fire alarms.
Skylar Bohemier says he's lucky to be alive. ”I feel sick right now...I was terrified,” he said.
“It was literally happening right above my bed.”
Fire alarms in the apartment block woke him up Sunday morning.
“I looked around the apartment and smelled a bit of smoke and then I looked at my bed and headboard and it was black billowing smoke, just going out of control all over the ceiling,” he said.
Bohemier says he woke his girlfriend, grabbed his phone, and called 911.
Rachel Braul says her roommate smelled the smoke from outside their unit and reacted.
“She looked out the door she smelled some smoke and she said, ‘We gotta get up.’ And she woke me up and her boyfriend,” said Braul.
The fire started in a utility room on the lower level and spread through the ceiling into two units above.
Emergency crews evacuated the building for safety reasons.
With below-seasonal temperatures, a transit bus provided temporary emergency shelter for some residents.
Luckily, Braul has a place to go. “I' m lucky in that. Other people don't, so it's a bit sad,” she said.
Bohemier says he'll wait to see if his home in still intact, but there's a more immediate concern on his mind.
“At this point, I just wanna grab my socks and a shirt and gather my life up a little bit,” he said.
While there was no damage to the exterior of the building, fire crews say there is smoke and water damage inside. Residents have been told they could be out of the building for at least a week.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. No injuries were reported.
- with a report by Rajeev Dhir
