Apartment building fire sends six to hospital

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This article was published 25/12/2022 (730 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The night before Christmas and early morning hours of Christmas Day were marked with five fires across the city, including one that displaced 42 tenants and left three people hospitalized.

The Warwick Apartments building at 366 Qu’Appelle Avenue went up in flames just past 4 a.m. Sunday, and two separate alarms were called because more fire crews were needed to tackle the blaze.

Firefighters were told there were people trapped in the 113-year-old building and disabled residents who would need assistance leaving. Six people who were pulled out of the building were sent to hospital: three in critical condition, one in unstable condition, and two in stable condition. Winnipeg Transit buses were used as shelter for people fleeing the fire, and the city’s emergency social services team was called to help the 42 residents in the building who had to find alternate accommodation for the night.

An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.

Just an hour later, a fire broke out in a two-storey home in the 700 block of Selkirk Avenue. It was cleared out within 45 minutes, and the occupants of the home had escaped before crews arrived.

City emergency social services were again called to help one resident of the home find temporary accommodations.

Earlier that night, at around 1:06 a.m., crews extinguished a smaller fire at a two-storey, multi-family home in the 200 block of Austin Street North. There were no injuries, but one person had to find temporary housing with help from the emergency social services.

Just before midnight, residents were evacuated from a single-family home on fire and the neighbouring home in the 300 block of Murray Avenue. The fire was declared under control just over an hour later.

Crews believe the fire was accidental. There was significant damage to the home’s attached garage.

There were no injuries after a fire broke out in a three-story residential building in the 500 block of Manitoba Avenue around 9:37 p.m. Saturday.

The building has significant damage, but all occupants left the home before crews arrived and there were no reported injuries. The fire was under control an hour after crews arrived.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca