Number of Winnipeg vacant building fires in 2025 'frustrating,' but not shocking: Firefighters union head
CBC
There have been at least six fires at vacant buildings in Winnipeg so far in the new year, all of which were properties that have previously burned before.
Some of those calls resulted in the buildings needing emergency demolition and in one incident, a firefighter was sent to hospital after responding to a blaze at a vacant building.
"It's frustrating, frankly it doesn't come as a surprise," said United Firefighters of Winnipeg president Nick Kasper.
"In 2024 we faced an average of 20 vacant building fires per month, that's an increase of 20 times over the last decade and the trend is obviously continuing to increase into 2025.
"It is frustrating, but it's not a shock to us," he said.
On Sunday, Elsa Doucette stood outside her Aikins Street home remarking that it's been more quiet ever since the vacant, three-storey apartment building across the street on Mountain Avenue was demolished following a fire during the first week of January.
"Every day there was sirens," said Doucette. "Every, every day. Fire trucks every second day, ambulances, it didn't stop."
The blaze at the building on Jan. 3 was at least the fourth there since 2022.
Doucette said she's glad nobody got hurt in the fire, but is glad to see the building gone.
"It's been an eyesore for an ongoing amount of time," she said. "A hazard, if you would say."
Those thoughts were echoed by Daniel Asrat, the vice-chair of the parish council for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which is right beside where the Mountain Avenue apartment complex recently stood.
Asrat said the fires there made people "on guard" and not knowing when the building would go up in flames next was stressful.
"You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow [or if] you have a church or not," he said. "You don't know what's going to happen so that was the hardest … thing for us."
The former Mountain Avenue apartment complex is among several vacant buildings that have gone up in flames again this year.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
A Nova Scotia jury has found a 34-year-old man guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of battle rapper Pat Stay, a 36-year-old father of two who was fatally stabbed 2½ years ago at a downtown Halifax nightclub.
Some property owners in Saint Andrews are speaking out against a plan to refurbish the Market Wharf, although the design was chosen by the public in a community vote.
The lone survivor of a mass shooting in a West Broadway rooming house is being mourned by his family after he died in a Winnipeg hospital earlier this month, more than a year and a half after the shooting that left four others dead.
The mayor of Creighton says residents will have to remain patient, as the northeastern Saskatchewan town waits for health-care services to restart in the neighbouring city of Flin Flon, Man.
A rural municipality in southwest Saskatchewan is sounding the alarm as the worst dry conditions in almost a decade push crops and livestock to the brink.
Warning: This story contains details some may find disturbing.
A commercial food processing company has pleaded guilty to a workplace safety charge after an Edmonton worker became trapped in a smokehouse and died.
The will of a deceased B.C. woman will be contested by an old friend, her closest living relatives and a male escort approximately 54 years her junior following a decision by a provincial Supreme Court judge.
In the search for three-year-old Claire Bell, Quebec provincial police have located an important witness they say spoke to her mother on Sunday — just hours before she reported her child missing.
Toronto cop gets suspended sentence, probation for assault over fake watch sale where man later died
An off-duty Toronto police officer has received a suspended sentence and a year of probation after being found guilty of assault for forcing a Brampton man to the ground in 2021 over a fake Apple watch in a Kijiji deal gone bad.
The P.E.I. Fishermen's Association says it is closely monitoring the situation after Fisheries and Oceans Canada restricted a fishing area off P.E.I. waters due to the detection of an entangled North Atlantic right whale very close to the Island's coast.
Abuse of referees in amateur sport has been an issue for decades and all sorts of attempts have been made to curb the problem, from sternly worded signs that remind fans to be respectful to green armbands that identify novice officials to body-worn cameras that record footage from the refs' perspectives.
When his lawyer's name flashed on his phone early last month, Michael Murray ducked out to answer the call — the physician was in the middle of seeing patients at his medical clinic in Hawaii, but this call from Toronto felt important.