A vacant three-storey apartment block is set to be demolished, after Winnipeg firefighters were called Friday night to the third fire at the Mountain Avenue building since August 2023.
The building, located on the 300 block of Mountain, just west of Main Street, had significant smoke, fire and water damage after the latest fire and must be demolished due to structural concerns, the city said in a Saturday news release.
Firefighters began fighting the blaze around 7:45 p.m. Friday, and attacked the flames from outside the building using an aerial ladder.
Most of the fire had been extinguished by Saturday morning, but several crews were still at the scene putting out smoldering hot spots, the city said.
Several neighbouring residences have been temporarily evacuated as a precaution. The fire remains under investigation and no injuries have been reported.
Some roads in the area will close until the demolition is complete, the city said. It also warned people in the area to be careful, because frigid temperatures in Winnipeg have created slippery conditions.
The vacant apartment block was also damaged in a fire in January of last year and one in August 2023, the city said.
Winnipeg has been grappling with an increase in the number of fires at vacant properties. In 2023, the city had a record 156 fires at vacant properties — a 38 per cent increase from the previous year, according to city data released last year.
The city was on pace to break that record in 2024, with approximately 150 fires at vacant buildings by the end of October, the president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg previously told CBC.
The City of Winnipeg has tried to toughen enforcement on vacant and derelict buildings, introducing stricter requirements for securing doors and windows and billing owners for the cost of sending fire crews to respond to blazes at unoccupied buildings.
In its Saturday news release, the city asked residents to call 911 to report incidents of people entering or trying to enter a boarded-up building.
People can contact 311 if they notice boarded windows or doors that have already been breached, the city said.