Victim says fire deliberately set

Pic: Rudi Pawlychyn, Global Winnipeg

Fire swept through a St. Boniface back lane early Tuesday morning, destroying two vehicles and giving one elderly resident a very unhappy birthday.

Jerry Montsion should be celebrating his 88th birthday, but instead he’s surveying the burnt out wreck that once was his 1999 Cadillac. It and a neighbour’s pickup truck were destroyed in the blaze that broke out about 4 am Tuesday in the back lane of Regal Avenue.

Montsion says police and fire investigators told him someone likely set the fire that also destroyed his garage and a shed containing all his tools.

“They figure it was deliberately set,” he told Global News. “There was a car parked there and they told me it was a stolen car. They towed it away later. But definitely deliberately set, there’s no other way.”