The River East Transcona School Division’s insurance company is accusing firefighters of doing a shoddy job of putting out a 2022 blaze that broke out at an elementary school and was rekindled multiple times after the initial 911 response.
Westview School reopened to students and staff in January after nearly two years of disruption to in-person learning and extensive restoration.
This fall marks the first regular back-to-school season for the community since 2021, owing to the fallout of an accidental fire and satellite campus created in response.
“This was a very, very difficult time for the students and families of Westview — to know that you can’t go to school the next day that you’d been at the day before, that’s difficult for students,” said Sandra Herbst, superintendent of the Winnipeg-based division.
Emergency responders were first dispatched to a fire at the Victoria West-area school shortly after 5 p.m. on March 1, 2022. City records indicate the blaze at 600 Hoka St. was declared under control within two hours.
Last week, RETSD filed a lawsuit seeking reimbursement of related costs, as well as general and special damages, from the city due to firefighters’ alleged negligence resulting in widespread destruction.
“The defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care to provide firefighting services in a reasonable fashion and to act in accordance with the standards expected of a reasonably competent fire department,” states an excerpt from a statement of claim filed in Manitoba Court of King’s Bench on Sept. 26.
Herbst told the Free Press the division’s insurer filed the suit to recoup what it paid out on RETSD’s fire-damage claim, which is standard practice, she was told by the division’s legal counsel.
Court documents indicate the fire originated on top of a canopy above the south entrance of the kindergarten-to-Grade 5 school while a contractor was doing roofing work.
It resulted in significant fire, smoke and water damage, but no injuries were reported, a news release issued by the City of Winnipeg that evening said. There were no follow-up releases.
The statement of claim indicates that, between March 1 and 7 of that year, the fire was rekindled “on at least two occasions” and firefighters were called back to the scene.
The claim contends that additional losses and damages were caused by the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service’s “negligence.”
“This was a very, very difficult time for the students and families of Westview.”–Sandra Herbst, superintendent
The lengthy list of allegations include failures to: completely extinguish the fire during an initial visit; determine the extent of the fire in the roof; and to use or properly use thermal imaging technology.
Neither the city nor WFPS will comment on the matter while it is before the courts, city communications officer Kalen Qually said in an email.
The fire and subsequent flare-ups resulted in the cancellation of in-person classes for a week. Students were then relocated to Radisson School, a neighbouring site with available space.
Herbst said RETSD’s community offered support during the emergency and she is grateful for the “tireless” work of everyone involved, including trustees and teachers.
An open house held ahead of the school’s official reopening on Jan. 16 was so well attended that organizers ran out of cake, she noted.
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca
Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter
Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., Maggie was an intern at the Free Press twice while earning her degree at Ryerson’s School of Journalism (now Toronto Metropolitan University) before joining the newsroom as a reporter in 2019. Read more about Maggie.
Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.
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