North End house fire kills man, two cats

A man is dead and a woman is in critical condition after a house fire in the North End Tuesday morning.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service said two cats were also killed in the heavy blaze at 470 Boyd Ave., which was extinguished close to 8 a.m.

“My husband jumped up and pulled open the door and saw flames already coming out the windows,” neighbour Mona Chartrand said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "My husband jumped up and pulled open the door and saw flames already coming out the windows," neighbour Mona Chartrand said.

“The old lady was already out of the house but the old man wasn’t out … we called her the cat lady cause she always had a lot of cats around here,” she continued.

The single-family bungalow suffered significant fire, smoke and water damage.

“The damage is intense there’s a lot of heat and smoke damage. It’s pretty heavily damaged that it should almost be a write off,” said District Fire Chief Dave Belza.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The damage is intense there's a lot of heat and smoke damage. It's pretty heavily damaged that it should almost be a write off," said District Fire Chief Dave Belza.

The Fire Chief on scene confirmed to Global News that an adult male had died, while an adult female was taken to hospital in critical condition.

0:35 Fire crews attend fatal house fire on Boyd Avenue

The influx of recent emergency calls to the area over the past year has residents concerned.

“It’s awful, you want you leave and move from here but you’re limited to what you have and what you’re income is in the north end, it’s like you’re forced to live here,” neighbour Jackeline Black says.

The cause of the fire was still being investigated and no damage estimates were available at the time.

WFPS said it was unclear whether the home had working smoke alarms.

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