Residents displaced after west Winnipeg apartment fire

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) said it got the call just before 5 a.m. when crews responded to a three story apartment building in the 500 block of Gagnon Street, just inside the Perimeter Highway. (Source: Daniel; Halmarson, CTV News)

It was a startling wake-up call for people living in an apartment building on Winnipeg's west edge.

“Some girl just running around going ‘fire, fire!’ It doesn’t sound real. You don’t think anything of it. And all of a sudden, I go outside and I hear crackling,” resident Clarissa Friesen told CTV News.

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) said it got the call just before 5 a.m. when crews responded to a three-storey apartment building in the 500 block of Gagnon Street – just off Portage Avenue near the Perimeter Highway.

“The whole balcony was just engulfed in flames, so I ran back inside and got my boyfriend and said we got to get out now,” Friesen said.

Firefighters saw smoke and flames coming from the building and attacked the fire from the outside while ensuring residents were safely evacuating.

Maddison Buckle said she woke up to firefighters breaking down her door.

"I didn’t have time to grab my cats. I had to leave them. I had to leave with just my dog, my keys and my phone,” Buckle told CTV News.

As conditions improved, fire crews moved the fight inside the building, declaring the fire under control at 7:20 a.m.

Buckle was reunited with her two cats in the hours following the blaze. She said the whole ordeal was emotionally draining.

"I was just worried that my cats were going to die in there and I was going to lose everything. I live with my boyfriend and he wasn’t there. I was just scared and I was alone,” Buckle said.

Buckle and Friesen are among residents unsure if, or when, they’ll be able to return to their homes.

"I feel bad for the people who are on the top floor. Basically, everybody on the top floor, their ceiling caved in,” Friesen said.

The City of Winnipeg’s Emergency Social Services (ESS) team responded to the scene to help displaced residents find temporary accommodation. Two Winnipeg Transit buses were provided for temporary shelter.

Tenants living on side of the building – including Friesen and Buckle – were briefly allowed back in to grab a few belongings. They said their units sustained smoke and a bit of water damage.

Mike Kenny, who lives below one of the burnt-out suites, fears he’s likely lost everything.

"They won’t let us in. They said it’s not structurally sound, so they said stay outside for now," Kenny told CTV News. "Probably go stay with my son or my aunt, and then from there, we will figure out what to do.”

Two firefighters sustained minor injuries. Paramedics checked one of them at the scene, but no one needed to be taken to hospital.

The cause of the fire is under investigation and no damages estimates are available.