One person is in the hospital in critical condition following a house fire on Pritchard Avenue on Sunday.
Around 1 a.m., the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) went to a bi-level house in the 700 block of Pritchard for reports of a house fire.
When crews arrived, they saw heavy smoke coming from the house.
Two people had self-evacuated but there was someone else trapped in the house, according to bystanders.
Crews began fighting the fire and, after searching, they found the person and carried them outside to waiting paramedics.
The person was then taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Additionally, crews rescued two cats from the home but, unfortunately, four more cats were found dead inside the home.
The fire was under control by 1:44 a.m. and preliminary observations suggest the fire was an accident caused by the improper disposal of smoking materials.
WFPS urges residents to practice the following safety tips:
- Smoking material should always be extinguished in a proper ashtray or deep metal container.
- Wet cigarette butts and matches before putting them in a garbage container.
- Never smoke in bed, and avoid smoking while seated on couches or arm chairs.
- Keep matches and lighters out of children’s reach, and buy child resistant lighters.
- Cigarette butts should never be thrown from balconies, car windows, or disposed of near any vegetation such as grass, leaves or brush.
- Never use a plant pot as an ashtray.
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