Metropolis officers and the Winnipeg firefighters’ union are involved that the issue of record-setting numbers of vacant constructing fires has continued into 2025.
“We’re not even two weeks into 2025 and averaging two construction fires a day right here in Winnipeg,” Nick Kasper, president of United Firefighters of Winnipeg instructed International Information on Saturday.
“Simply within the final 36 hours, we’ve had three vacant buildings go up in flames.”
At a type of fires, a firefighter was injured after falling by means of a ground.
“We will’t make certain when the crews arrive on scene that the construction is unoccupied, so our crews make entry most of the time,” Kasper mentioned, including that each entry right into a burning constructing has apparent security dangers.
On prime of that, crews take care of frustration and exhaustion, usually battling repeated blazes on the similar deserted buildings.
“It has its affect on bodily and psychological well being,” Kasper says. “It takes a toll on our individuals.”
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The toll can also be felt by taxpayers.
“The fee is just a little arduous to calculate however what is a matter is the truth that when we’ve got a number of crews dedicated to one in every of these fires, we’ve got gaps in our response and it takes us longer to get to the subsequent incident, sadly,” mentioned Deputy Fireplace Chief Scott Wilkinson.
Sadly, there is no such thing as a easy answer.
“The difficulty may be very advanced. It’s every thing from housing to psychological well being to substance abuse to susceptible individuals and the financial system,” Wilkinson mentioned. “It’s a multifaceted problem that’s not going to get solved, sadly, by one division or one group.”
Whereas the Metropolis has tried to recoup greater than $1 million in firefighting prices from derelict property homeowners, lower than $80,000 has been paid.
“What we discovered, sadly, is that has nearly disincentivized as a result of there’s individuals who wish to develop their property who now have a $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 invoice and that makes it much more tough for them to develop the property,” mentioned Mayor Scott Gillingham.
With some 700 vacant buildings in Winnipeg, the mayor mentioned he sees a chance.
“We wish to flip the vacant properties into locations the place individuals can dwell,” Gillingham says. “These properties symbolize the potential for housing at a time once we want housing within the metropolis of Winnipeg.”
Nevertheless, it’s not one thing metropolis departments can do alone, he added. Gillingham mentioned gathering non-profit organizations and personal residents to provide you with a plan is a 2025 precedence.
Winnipeg set a file in 2023 with greater than 150 vacant constructing fires and broke it once more ending 2024 with near 200.
The firefighters union estimates fires set unintentionally or deliberately in deserted buildings have elevated 20-fold in a decade.
© 2025 International Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.
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