Vacant Main Street hotel ‘total loss’ after overnight fire Next-door shelter evacuated, area closed to traffic for hours By: Scott Billeck Posted: 8:03 AM CST Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026 Last Modified: 8:11 AM CST Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026 Updates

An overnight blaze Wednesday that destroyed a dilapidated hotel, forced the evacuation of about 150 people from a shelter next door and shut down Main Street traffic in both directions is being described as “just another day in Winnipeg.”

Nick Kasper, president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg, said the blaze that reduced the vacant Manwin Hotel to thick ice and rubble is an example of the sad reality in the city.

“It’s just another day, another news story,” Kasper said. “We’ve normalized deviance here in Winnipeg so significantly, where people come to expect this. They’re not outraged, they’re not shocked because it is our typical. That is concerning. This isn’t normal across the country, right?

“A city the size of Winnipeg with a population of 850,000 people should not be having more structure fires than… major, major Canadian cities with populations that vastly exceed ours,” Kasper said. “That is a concern, and it’s not a good reputation to have.”

There were 274 vacant property fires in the city in 2024. Last year, the number was 166, as of Oct. 31.

UFFW provided the Free Press with data comparing the number of calls for service to 11 metropolitan fire departments per 1,000 population in 2024. The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service was the busiest, at 169.3.

By comparison, the Vancouver Fire Rescue Service was next, at 108.7. Toronto Fire Services received 42.4 calls per 1,000 population, one-quarter of the demand in Winnipeg.

Fire crews were called to the scene of the blaze at 655 Main St. after it was first reported at 3:45 a.m., WFPS chief Christian Schmidt at an afternoon news conference at city hall.

“Our crews worked extremely hard to protect the neighbouring buildings, despite significant fire and smoke in the area,” he said.

Schmidt said the first crew was at the scene in just under four minutes, and by the time 15 minutes had passed, 49 firefighters were battling the blaze.

“Firefighters immediately began exterior defence of attack operations because this fire was so well involved that it was unsafe to enter the structure,” he said. “Firefighters used an aerial ladder and hand lines to spray water on this fire.”

No injuries were reported. Schmidt said they had not been able to search the building as of Wednesday afternoon.

The building is a total loss, and Schmidt said an emergency demolition was ordered and began shortly after noon in order to remove rubble, allowing crews to reach fires burning underneath.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Main Street Project’s emergency shelter is located next door to the Manwin at 637 Main and had to be evacuated. MSP’s administrative offices are located on the other side of where the Manwin stood, at 661 Main.

Jamil Mahmood, MSP’s executive director, said 150 people were inside the shelter building when the fire broke out. He said 37 were transferred to a city-owned recreation centre at 200 Isabel St. Other city shelters, including Siloam Mission and N’Dinawemak, took in people, as well.

Main Street between Logan and Higgins avenues was still closed in both directions well into the afternoon. Motorists and pedestrians were being told to avoid the area.

Schmidt said the city hoped to open southbound lanes on Main Street later in the afternoon, but due to the demolition, it was unclear when northbound lanes would open.

The Manwin has been vacant since the city ordered residents to leave in January 2025 amid multiple outstanding permit requirements and compliance orders.

“What has happened today is proof that we made the right call in shutting down the Manwin a year ago,” Mayor Scott Gillingham said. “The building suffered from numerous fire-safety issues, and this could have been a much worse tragedy if there there were dozens of people still living there.”

WFPS was called to 24 emergency incidents outside the Manwin last year, including small fires outside the building and medical calls.

The hotel was briefly listed for sale last year, but owner Akim Kambamba allowed it to expire in October to address some issues before relisting the property, said listing agent Brad Gross, who did not disclose what the issues were.

Following a fire in a bathroom of the hotel in December 2024, the city’s planning, property and development department ordered the building’s approximately 34 tenants to vacate the premises.

Kambamba appealed the order, but the city’s property and development committee rejected the plea and upheld the order on Feb. 10.

Gillingham, responding to questions as to why the city didn’t take a more proactive approach, said the city has adopted an increasingly strict set of rules for owners of vacant and derelict buildings.

“Last year, we adopted a new vacancy-to-vitality program that will see us take an even more forceful stand with building owners, including taking ownership of properties, if problems are not remediated,” he said.

Point Douglas Coun. Vivian Santos said Wednesday she’s very supportive of what the city is doing to deal with its problem buildings.

“It’s important to note that we just have too many (vacant buildings),” Santos said. “We know that it’s not illegal for owners to hold onto vacant properties. So we can’t come heavy-handed.”

Mahmood said MSP had made an offer for the property, intending to knock down the hotel, clean up the land and build on it.

The owner is believed to have listed it at $2 million, Santos said, calling the price “unreasonable.”

She suggested the province build its proposed supervised drug consumption facility where the hotel had been.

And she had a message for owners of other vacant buildings in the city.

“Please, do more than what you’re doing.”

The hotel had been plagued by drug use and violence over the years, including four homicides between 2017 and 2023. It offered low-cost rents in its 36 rooms.

The building opened as the Walker House in 1882, the Manitoba Historical Society’s website says. It went through several name changes over the years before becoming the Manwin Hotel.

Last month, UFFW vice-president TJ Belluk said the place was a constant target for break-ins and fires.

“The only way to minimize the hazard is to tear it down,” Belluk said then.

Kasper, meanwhile, said vacant-property fires are a weekly, if not daily, occurrence. And the buildings — a large percentage of which are not being maintained — often don’t have fire detection and suppression systems or, if they do, the equipment is inadequate.

The cost, and toll dealing with the properties is “immense,” he said.

“It’s very demanding,” he said. “We’ve had crews there all night. It’s below -20 C. You see the conditions…

“The impact on traffic this morning, our ability to respond to other calls. We’re already the busiest fire department in the country and situations like this take us away from other incidents, as well.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

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