Fire destroys home on Lansdowne Avenue

Lansdowne fire raises questions about hydrants Firefighters were unable to get water from two hydrants when they arrived at a house fire on Lansdown Avenue Friday night.

Fire crews battled a large blaze at a vacant house in the 400 block of Lansdowne Avenue Friday evening.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service says crews were called to the house between Powers Street and Andrews Street shortly before 10 p.m.

Witnesses told CTV the fire was massive and quickly engulfed the house. The fire began to spread to a neigbhouring house before firefighters were able to get it under control.

Neighbours who witnessed the blaze said firefighters arrived on scene quickly, but ran into trouble when tried connecting to a nearby hydrant and couldn’t get any water.

Anna Maria MacTavish lives several houses down the street from the fire.

“It took them a good 10 minutes to get water, five, 10 minutes to get water, and the firefighters did a really good job in going there. They even asked some of the residents, ‘Please, can you pull the hoses down?’ It’s just getting to be so much, to pull it down a whole city block.”

Assistant Fire Chief Mark Reshaur said crews had some water supply issues at first, but couldn’t speculate as to why the first hydrant they tried didn’t work.

Bob Moskal said he saw some firefighters using water from the truck to begin battling the fire while the others tried to connect to the hydrant. By the time they got the hose connected, though, “it was too little, too late,” he said.

Fire crews evacuated the adjacent houses while they fought the fire. The house collapsed and a house on the west side sustained “significant” damage to the attic area, said Assistant Fire Chief Mark Reshaur.

No one was injured by the fire.

McTavish said she’s worried after discovering the fire hydrant next to her house wasn’t working.

“Oh my god, what if it had been my home? And with the hydrant, that’s why, you know, I felt safe, and now I don’t feel so safe anymore.”