Liberty Isip shrugs and sighs after another vacant building in her inner-city neighbourhood went up in flames on the weekend.
A pile of rubble is all that’s left of the derelict rooming house on William Avenue after a Sunday morning fire — the second at the property in less than three weeks.
“Of course we’re worried, but what can we do?” said Isip from her home on Elgin Avenue, where she’s lived for nearly 20 years.
Ruth Bonneville / Free Press Files
Forensic officers investigate at the scene of a fire in a townhouse on Keewatin Street last Wednesday.
The city ordered an emergency demolition of the two-and-a-half storey rooming house on Sunday after crews battled the flames from an aerial ladder truck into the afternoon.
Several Centennial neighbourhood residents who spoke with the Free Press feel indifferent and defeated about vacant building fires, citing the frequency of the blazes, costs associated with moving and safety issues plaguing nearby areas.
Sylvester Tomkiewicz sees new, burned-out buildings in his West Broadway neighbourhood almost daily.
“I don’t like to see it, but it’s happening everywhere,” he said, walking past the site of a different vacant building fire to hit Balmoral Street over the Canada Day long weekend. “I don’t know what can be done about it.”
Fire crews were called Saturday to the former Centre Village housing complex at 575 Balmoral St. The building’s interior was filled with smoke, but crews were able to enter and fight the fire from inside. Firefighters declared the blaze under control in roughly one hour.
On Tuesday, black soot could be seen marking several windows of the 25-unit complex, which was built in 2010 but left empty by 2019.
The city recorded 125 fires in vacant buildings between January and mid-November 2023 — a new annual record.
Repeated requests for the total number of vacant building fires in 2023 and 2024 have been declined by the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, which cited backlogs in data tracking. Another request Tuesday was again declined.
There were 84 vacant building fires in 2022 and 64 in 2021.
Last year, city officials stepped up efforts to slash the number of fires and recover some costs with tweaks to its vacant building bylaw, but the changes have proved to be no match for the issue.
Community advocate Sel Burrows maintains the city has the power to address the issue but weak bylaws and little enforcement will only make the problem persist.
“It’s completely unacceptable what we’re dealing with,” Burrows said.
The city’s vacant building bylaw requires a building be secured should it become vacant. If a house is broken into after it’s been boarded up, owners are required to take further action to seal the building.
Burrows questions the two-tier system and the lack of patrolling of vacant properties.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS Files
Community advocate, Sel Burrows, in front of a vacant house on Lisgar Avenue in 2023.
“There needs to be 1,000 eyes on the street,” he said.
A letter sent to city council by the William White Neighbourhood Association and obtained by the Free Press points to a property at 491 Burrows Ave. that has been subject to five calls for service since April. On Friday, a fire broke out at the home at 8 p.m.
“The City of Winnipeg needs to implement emergency measures for dealing with these vacant and boarded properties in order to protect the citizens of Winnipeg from the recent rash of fires and crimes plaguing the City,” the letter states.
In early June, a verbal account by the city’s problem properties task force reported city workers and Winnipeg police have inspected 39 vacant or derelict homes, responded to 282 calls for service on problem properties and boarded up 114 buildings.
Coun. Ross Eadie claims the buildings are being targeted by arsonists for the precious metal lining the homes that can be sold for scrap.
“It’s completely unacceptable what we’re dealing with.”–Sel Burrows
Eadie (Mynarski) wants to see vacant buildings acquired by the city faster, but admits the problem will persist until proper investments can be made.
“There’s some vacant properties that go vacant because the landlord wasn’t willing to do the renovation so that somebody could actually live in it,” he said. “When we do resolve a problem with a vacant property, another two come online.”
As of Tuesday, 695 properties have been identified under the vacant buildings bylaw, a city spokesperson said.
Burrows said the neighbourhoods that are being targeted need more support from council.
“Residents don’t know who to call. They don’t know if anybody will show up if they do call … they don’t think anybody pays attention to them and they need real encouragement to to participate and be part of the solution,” he said.
Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer
Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom in 2023. Read more about Nicole.
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