Winnipeg emergency crews battle 5 fires in 6 hours Saturday morning
Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) crews were busy Saturday morning, responding to five different structure fires within several hours.
The first blaze broke out at 12:50 a.m. at an industrial building on Sutherland Avenue between Maple Street North and Argyle Street North.
When crews arrived, they found the structure engulfed in heavy flames and smoke. They launched a defensive attack using an aerial ladder truck and hand lines to deploy water. An excavator was also brought to the scene to move debris and help find hotspots.
The blaze was extinguished around 6:11 a.m., no injuries were reported.
The multi-storey structure was vacant and had previously been gutted by a fire on July 4, 2023. After that blaze, the building was deemed a complete loss due to extreme fire, smoke and water damage that left large sections of it partially collapsed. Since then, it’s been the site of several other significant fires, according to WFPS.
WFPS crews responded to a second structure fire in a single-storey commercial warehouse and office building in the 1400 block of Inkster Boulevard around 1:42 a.m.
After launching an interior attack against the smoke and flames, the fire was declared under control shortly after 2 a.m.
No one was found inside the building and no one was injured.
An hour later, around 3:07 a.m., WFPS were called to a large fire outside a commercial structure in the 500 block of Dufferin Avenue.
Several passenger vehicles and a semi-trailer unit were engulfed in flames when crews arrived. The fire also damaged electrical lines that fell on the building and were arcing.
WFPS personnel worked to prevent the blaze from stretching to the nearby building and ventilated smoke from inside. Manitoba Hydro crews were also on-scene to disconnect the electrical lines.
The vehicles and semi-trailer are considered complete losses, while the building sustained minimal heat damage. The fire was declared under control just after 4 a.m.
At 4:10 a.m., firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke coming from a vacant one-and-a-half-storey house in the 1300 block of Manitoba Avenue.
No one was inside and no injuries were reported. It was declared under control around 4:42 a.m.
An hour later, a blaze broke out at a garage in the 700 block of Flora Avenue. According to WFPS, the adjacent house on the property is vacant and has sustained extensive damage from previous fires.
Crews extinguished the flames and the blaze was declared under control shortly before 6 a.m. No one was injured in the incident.
All five fires are being investigated and damage estimates are not available at this time.
WFPS is also reminding residents to refrain from driving over a firehose while crews are responding to an emergency. They said it is an offence under the Highway Traffic Act and “doing so can create unsafe conditions for firefighters and put others in the vicinity at-risk of serious injury or death.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Humboldt Broncos crash victims and families react to decision to deport truck driver
The family of one of the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 says they are 'thankful' for a decision by a Calgary immigration board to deport the driver of the truck involved.
Fatal plane crash reported near Squamish, B.C.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has confirmed it is working with local Mounties and the BC Coroners Service after a plane crash near Squamish, B.C. Friday night.
'God forgives but we don’t': Loud outburst from stabbing victim’s family during sentencing hearing
An emotional outburst in a London, Ont. courtroom Friday disrupted the sentencing hearing of a woman who pleaded guilty for her part in the death of 29-year-old Mohammed Abdallah.
Three dead after vehicle plunged down a 100-foot embankment in Shediac, N.B.
Three people have died after a vehicle veered off the road in Shediac N.B., Friday morning.
Appeal denied for Edmonton soldier accused of trying to kill her 3 children
An Edmonton woman found guilty of trying to kill her three children has been denied an appeal.