Mountain Avenue apartment building complete loss after Sunday fire

A Mountain Avenue apartment building is expected to be a complete loss after a massive fire kept crews busy all day Sunday.

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) were called around 7:12 a.m. to a three-storey apartment building in the 300 block of Mountain Avenue. Crews arrived to find heavy black smoke coming from the building and evacuated a nearby home as a precaution.

"Our crews arrived to find a significant fire in the building," WFPS deputy chief Scott Wilkinson told CTV News. "They started attacking it at that time from the outside and inside."

Firefighters began with an interior attack, but were forced out of the building due to deteriorating conditions. They transitioned to a defensive position and fought the fire with aerial ladders and hand lines. Thermal imaging views from the WFPS drone helped crews direct water streams and find hot spots.

One evacuee from the apartment building was treated on-scene by paramedics, but did not need to be taken to hospital.

WFPS crews were on scene for much of the day. Adjacent streets were closed to traffic as firefighters battled the blaze.

The City of Winnipeg’s Emergency Social Services (ESS) team is helping approximately 20 displaced residents find temporary housing.

Damage estimates are not available at this time, but the building is expected to be a complete loss.

"At this point it looks unlikely that it will be able to be inhabited again, certainly not in the foreseeable future," said Wilkinson.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.