House fire claimed 'baby brother,' 'good guy': sister

The sister of a 14-year-old who was killed Tuesday in a Winnipeg house fire is remembering him as a "good guy" who liked to ride his bicycle and tease his older sisters.

Nathan Starr died when a fire gutted a three-storey house on Mountain Avenue early Tuesday morning. Emergency crews helped 10 people escape the blaze, which was noticed by a passing police cruiser, but were unable to get to Nathan.

Nicole Starr, 17, was planning to visit her brother that day when she got the news. He hadn't liked her boyfriend, Starr said, so they had argued and hadn't been close lately; she wanted to change that.

"I was thinking about him on my way to school, to ask him for forgiveness, for us to stop fighting so we can spend Christmas together," she told CBC News.

"My mother called me on my cellphone and said that my brother might have burnt in a fire, and I don't know, it was really unexpected, what happened to him."

Starr said her brother's girlfriend lived at the Mountain Avenue house, and he often spent the night there. The house was rumoured to be rowdy and perhapsinvolved in illegal activities, but Starr said she didn't know whether her brother was involved in gangs or drugs.

"We went out for dinner on Saturday, that was the last time I seen him," she said. "I told him, 'I love you, I want to make sure, you know, you stay good and don't do anything bad.'"

The St. John's High School student was good boy who liked to ride his bicycle, listen to rap music, and "bug" her and his other older sister, she said.

"I'm taking it hard because this is my only brother. He was the youngest and he's my baby brother," Nicole said, breaking down in tears. "I love him and I'm going to miss him."

Winnipeg police homicide and arson investigators are probing the fire, which neighbours said appeared to have started on the North End home's porch.