Two people were taken to hospital after a fire in a sixth-floor suite at a Marion Street high-rise Friday morning.
Platoon chief Brent Cheater of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) told Global News that the fire was successfully extinguished, but that it left behind some significant damage to the Manitoba Housing complex.
“We had heavy smoke, heavy fire conditions on the sixth floor,” he said. “The sixth floor is extensively damaged, with smoke and water damage throughout the rest of the building and on the lower floors.
“This is Manitoba Housing and we have a lot of tenants in this building. … Some of them have disabilities, mobility issues, so we had a lot of evacuations to do.”
Cheater said the evacuations went well, and crews were able to clear the smoke out and get residents back inside to shelter in place on the main floor. In addition to the two people sent to hospital with unspecified injuries, some other residents were also taken to hospital for observation.
The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.