School burns down in Powerview-Pine Falls; RCMP investigating

Residents in Powerview-Pine Falls are mourning the loss of a historic school in the community that burned to the ground in a fire RCMP says appears to be suspicious.

Manitoba RCMP said the fire was reported around 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Crews were called to the abandoned school on Walnut Street to find the building in flames.

"I live three houses down from the school. When I came out, it was through the roof at the bell tower," Powerview-Pine Falls Fire Chief Willy Kemball told CTV News.

Kemball said it was already too late to save the 97-year-old building. Firefighters had to work through the night to keep the blaze from spreading to the vacant high school gym next door.

Video from the scene shows flames shooting out from the building, and heavy equipment being used to bring down walls of the school to help firefighters.

The local fire department, along with units from Lac du Bonnet and Sagkeeng First Nation, helped extinguish the fire.

In the daylight following the fire, the extent of the damage was visible. The nearly century-old pillar of the community had been reduced to a pile of twisted metal and charred wood.

Fire crews put out hotspots in the rubble of the old school in Powerview-Pine Falls that burned down on Oct. 14, 2023. (Source: Daniel Halmarson/CTV News Winnipeg)

It is a tragic ending for a building with a storied past.

"It's our history and our history has been burned down," said Linda Desrosiers, an area-resident, who said when she got the call about the fire, she had to see it to believe it.

"I had to be here, and I stayed for a long time," she said.

Desrosiers was among the many students who walked the halls of that school since it opened in 1926. She graduated from Pine Falls School in 1972, but said most people in the area attended the school at some point before it closed in 2007.

She had been planning a class reunion next year. Despite the loss, Desrosiers said she's still going forward with her plans to keep the memories of Pine Falls School alive.

"This is still where we all started. We all started here, and I know I’m going to get all kinds of stories about this," she said.

Les Barclay, the mayor of Powerview-Pine Falls, said many in the community are upset.

"There’s been a lot of people in the area of Pine Falls here that have actually went to school here," he said. "A lot of memories and a lot of very upset people seeing a historic building leave our community.”

Barclay said the town hopes to work with the building’s private owner to come up with a way to commemorate its history.

No one was injured. Mounties said the cause of the fire, "appears to be suspicious." The office of the fire commissioner is helping with the investigation.

Anyone with info is asked to call RCMP or call Crime Stoppers.