Grass fire damages multiple commercial businesses in Winnipeg's Transcona area
Multiple commercial buildings have suffered significant damage after a large, fast-moving grass fire swept through an industrial area in North Transcona on Monday afternoon.
Fire crews in Winnipeg and the Rural Municipality of Springfield responded to the fire on Gunn Road around 2 p.m. and evacuated all occupied businesses in the area as a precautionary measure, said Deputy Chief Scott Wilkinson with the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service.
"Due to wind conditions, it took crews a substantial amount of time to get the fire under control," Wilkinson said during a news conference in the area.
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The cause of the grass fire remains unknown at this time, including how many businesses sustained damage. Crews are investigating.
The fire was contained around 5 p.m. and does not pose a further risk to other commercial buildings or residential areas, according to the city.
Winnipeg police cruisers will remain at the site to block off the area on Gunn Road from Day to Redonda streets until fire crews finish extinguishing the fire, Wilkinson said.
Two firefighters were assessed by paramedics but did not need to go to hospital, according to a city news release issued later Monday evening.
No other injuries were reported.
"There was a lot of explosions going on," Wilkinson said.
"Crews did a great job despite wind and heat conditions to [keep] it from going beyond Gunn Road into the [Rural Municipality] of Springfield and north, and preventing it from extending further than it already has."
More than 30 fire response vehicles attended the scene throughout the day, the city release said.
Fire crews remain at the scene on Monday evening to extinguish the flames where multiple commercial businesses faced significant fire damage. (Justin Fraser/CBC)
A large cloud of thick smoke could be seen billowing from the area after 3 p.m.
Carol Barry, who works at Sandvik Mining close to where the fire started, said staff at the manufacturer were sent home following concerns about whether the fire was a result of a "chemical issue."
Barry said she noticed the black smoke as she was working from her desk, paired with hearing a loud bang and smaller sounds she described as "popping" coming from the fire.
She said she didn't think the fire would impact Sandvik Mining.
Murray Rougeau, a retired district chief with the WFPS, was biking near the area shortly after the fire started. Rougeau said he saw about seven water pumpers on site. He said firefighters appeared to be trying to prevent a chemical plant in the area from going up in flames and "have their hands full."
"They have water, it's just with this wind and everything, it makes it very difficult to contain," he said.
The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service said fire crews evacuated some areas near a wildfire along Gunn Road in Transcona that was contained around 5 p.m. (Catherine Moreau/Radio-Canada)
Manitoba Hydro said in a social media post on X that it had cut power to approximately 1,000 customers in the area to ensure firefighters can safely put out the flames. As of 4 p.m., power had been restored to all but 10 customers through an alternate power supply.
School bus routes within the River East Transcona School Division have also been affected as a result of road closures, the division posted on X Monday afternoon.
Winnipeg firefighters responded to three more fires on Monday, two of which were grass fires. One was located near Balaban Place in the Mission Gardens neighbourhood, and the other was south of the Perimeter Highway near Rue des Trappistes.
Fire crews responded around 4:30 p.m. to the Balaban Place fire, which had spread across several acres, the city said in a news release. Crews arrived at the fire near Rue des Trappistes at 5:30 p.m.
Both grass fires remain under investigation and no injuries have been reported.
Last week, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service issued a fire ban for the city, due to a stretch of hot, windy conditions. Temperatures in the 30s are forecast for Monday through Wednesday before rain and cooler weather is expected to close out the week.
The fire ban is in effect until 6 p.m. May 19, and anyone breaking it could get a $500 fine.
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Thumbnail courtesy of Catherine Moreau/Radio-Canada.
The story, written by Tessa Adamski, was originally written by and published for CBC News. It contains files from Brittany Greenslade.