Shuttered Friendship Centre among those damaged by fire

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This article was published 07/10/2022 (809 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg fire crews were busy Friday and Saturday morning.

Firefighters doused blazes in two commercial buildings, one apartment block and a house over the past day, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service said Saturday morning.

Crews raced to a fire in a one-storey building on the 500 block of Selkirk Avenue at about 1:11 p.m. Friday. When they arrived, they found smoke and flames jutting from the building, but extinguished it from the inside by about 1:26 p.m.

Firefighters found no one inside and no injuries were reported.

At 2:17 p.m., the department rushed to a fire in a two-storey house on the 400 block of Stella Avenue, where crews used a fire suppression tool to help extinguish the blaze by about 2:49 p.m.

No one was inside the building at the time and no one was hurt, but students at a nearby school were told to shelter inside because of the smoke.

Just before 4 p.m., the fire paramedic service were called to a one-storey building on the first block of Robinson Street.

Firefighters pushed inside the building and got it under control by about 4:22 p.m. No one was inside, the fire paramedic service said.

On Saturday morning, the air still smelled of acrid smoke around the side of the now-shuttered Winnipeg Indian and Métis Friendship Centre at 45 Robinson St., where a door frame was freshly charred.

At about 6:18 a.m. Saturday morning, fire crews were called to a three-storey apartment block on the 300 block of Hamilton Avenue.

Firefighters found smoke inside, but noted the fire had been mostly extinguished by the time they arrived. Crews inspected the building to make sure the fire hadn’t spread.

Paramedics treated five people at the scene, then took them to hospital in stable condition.

The city’s emergency social services team sent workers to help the occupants of the suite that burned find somewhere to stay temporarily. The other people who lived in the building were able to return to their apartments, the fire paramedic service said.

The fire paramedic service said the causes of the four fires are still under investigation.