A community is in mourning after a house fire that killed two young women in the town of Winnipeg Beach.
Early Sunday morning, officials were called to a home on Prospect Street and found it engulfed in flames.
Jim Mosher said his 21-year-old niece, Lisa Mosher, and her friend Alyssa Bernardin, didn’t make it out alive. His 18-year-old nephew Ken escaped with burns on his back and was sent to hospital.
“She was just a vivacious, beautiful young woman,” Mosher said of his niece.
The fire came just a day before the two-year anniversary of another fatal blaze in Winnipeg Beach, which took the life of 90-year-old Patrick Gallagher. Police are still investigating that case, which they say was arson.
“Two years ago, we had another loss of a person in the community and now again we’re hit with a loss anytime there’s a los and a tragic situation like that, it really hurts the community,” said Winnipeg Beach mayor Tony Pimentel.
“When you have two fires in two years where there’s a total of three deaths and one in the hospital now… it really, really makes me sad,” said Pat Werestiuk, who lives in Winnipeg Beach.
The cause of the latest fire is under investigation. RCMP could not provide damage estimates but said the home is a total loss.
Fire crews and RCMP taped off the entire block Sunday to keep any evidence within the scene. They continue to investigate.
-- with files from CTV’s Rajeev Dhir
