Investigators are continuing to look into the cause of a fire that started at a Glenelm home and quickly spread to two neighbouring homes.
The City of Winnipeg says in a release that the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service was called to a fire that involved two homes on Cobourg Avenue around 6:40 a.m. on Wednesday.
Upon arrival on scene, crews found a two-storey house engulfed in flames with the fire extending to a neighbouring one-and-a-half storey house and another two-storey house. A garage at the rear of the property also had fire extension.
Firefighters were able to enter the two-storey house where the fire originated but were forced out by heavy fire conditions. They transitioned to a defensive fire attack from the exterior. Once conditions improved, they were able to re-enter the house to fully extinguish the fire. One cat was located deceased in the house.
Firefighters made entry to the other two homes and garage and launched fire attacks from the interiors. They were able to extinguish the fire in the other two-storey house and garage from inside. However, they were forced to exit the one-and-a-half-storey house due to deteriorating fire conditions. They have transitioned to a defensive fire attack on that house and are using an aerial ladder truck to apply water to the fire while also protecting an additional neighbouring house.
Occupants from all three houses self-evacuated. One individual was assessed by on-scene paramedics but did not require transport to hospital. One firefighter also required medical attention at the scene, but did not require transport to hospital. No other injuries were reported.
Two of the houses sustained significant damage while the third house and the garage sustained moderate damage. Damage estimates are not available at this time.