An intellectually disabled man who has a professed “fascination with fire” has admitted responsibility for a $1-million blaze at a downtown Manitoba Housing complex on Christmas Day that killed two seniors and sent four other residents to hospital with smoke inhalation.
Ethan Powderhorn, 28, pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter and arson for the Dec. 25, 2022 fire at the Warwick Apartments on Qu’Appelle Avenue.
Powderhorn will return to court for sentencing on Nov. 4. Lawyers for the Crown and defence are expected to jointly recommend a 15-year prison term.
Court was told Powderhorn has been diagnosed with alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder, has a brain injury, and was using the drug “down,” a street opioid, at the time of the fire.
An agreed statement of facts provided to court says Powderhorn was alone in his third-floor suite around 12:20 a.m. when he used a propane torch to light a blanket on fire, which caused the smoke alarm to go off.
A neighbour tried to extinguish the fire before calling 911. Firefighters were able to put it out before it caused significant damage. Firefighters and building security staff told Powderhorn to leave and not come back without permission.
Security video showed Powderhorn returned to his suite about 10 minutes later. Around 4 a.m., Powderhorn was smoking “down” while using a propane torch, passed out and knocked the torch over, igniting his bed sheets and mattress.
“Ethan knew that lighting a torch in his apartment and smoking drugs could cause a fire inside his apartment,” said the agreed statement of facts. “Ethan also knew that there were hundreds of people living in the apartment building with him at the time. Ethan knew that if a fire started in his apartment, it would be dangerous to everyone in the building.”
Powderhorn’s neighbour again tried to put out the fire, but was turned back by the flames as black smoke filled the entire floor of the building. The neighbour handed Powderhorn a fire extinguisher before leaving to warn other residents to get out of the building.
Powderhorn left his apartment without using the fire extinguisher.
Two neighbours, Roger Glen Doblej, 63, and Suzanne Helen McCooeye, 70, opened the door to their suite and immediately collapsed in the hallway. First responders took them to hospital, where they died of smoke inhalation. Four other residents were treated in hospital and released.
In an interview with police Dec. 30, 2022, Powderhorn said he “has a fascination with fire” and that he set garbage bins on fire weekly, “purely for the fun of it,” said the agreed statement of facts.
Just days before the fatal blaze, Powderhorn removed a mattress from a garbage bin outside the apartment building and set it on fire. When confronted by a neighbour, he ran away.
Earlier that month, he ignited a fire in a garbage bin behind a Kennedy Street apartment complex.
Powderhorn has previous arson convictions. In 2021, he pleaded guilty to arson with disregard for life, and other related offences, for which he was sentenced to 293 days in jail.
Court was told Powderhorn set fire to a dumpster on Sherbrook Street, and hours later set a discarded mattress on fire on Maryland Street.
When arrested, he told police he felt he had been “wronged” during previous encounters with people at the locations, Crown attorney Jodi Koffman told court at the time.
Court heard Powderhorn was diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and is low functioning, with a family history of learning disabilities.
At 18, he was “essentially left to his own devices, became criminally involved, and began using illegal substances,” Koffman said.
Powderhorn is under the care of the public trustee, but received little in the way of housing support, court was told.
“I am not a bad person,” he wrote in a letter that was read out in court in 2021. “I have made some bad mistakes. I have learned my lesson that starting fires… is bad. I am overall a nice person who is easy to get along with.”
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
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