Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service says a fire in the West End Tuesday night destroyed a shuttered convenience store.
The vacant two-storey West End Grocery building, at the intersection of Lipton Street and Yarwood Avenue, was engulfed in flames around 8 p.m.
Neighbours say it had been closed for a number of years.
“The building was mostly out by the time I got there, but it was gutted and it’s now demolished,” area resident Dave Hallock told 680 CJOB Wednesday.
“Heavy steam and smoke billowed for a few hours and a fire hydrant broke and gave us brown water, which seems to be subsiding.”
Fire crews said the blaze took about three hours to extinguish.
As it was unsafe for firefighters to enter the building, they used an aerial drone to precisely target hot spots in the building and put out the fire effectively.
A WFPS spokesperson said it’s the 10th time the service has used the drone since acquiring it in August.
The cause of the fire is under investigation and no damage estimates are currently available.
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