Winnipeg apartment fire, demolition damages building next door

A 105-year-old apartment has been reduced to rubble and its cleanup is ongoing after a dramatic downtown fire Monday. Now, residents at a neighbouring apartment complex have been saddled with a cleanup of their own.

Dozens of firefighters arrived at 44 Hargrave St. Monday night. They managed to dowse a blaze that engulfed the building just before 7 p.m. and stopped it from spreading to nearby buildings.

• No injuries in fire at vacant Hargrave Street apartment building

• 5 teens suspected in $1M fire that destroyed Winnipeg apartment

Demolition crews worked overnight and into the afternoon Tuesday pushing the exterior walls of the apartmentin.

Damage is estimated at $1 million, police saidTuesday.

Somewhere between the time of the fire and the tear-down process,the apartment next door ended up taking on some damage.

Apartment next door damaged

Police forced residents out of the building Monday night as crews battled the blaze at 44 Hargrave. Meilleur stayed at a motel, and when he was allowed to go back into his suite Tuesday he found some of his possession mixed in with hunks of broken bricks that sailed in through the front window.

He wonderedif the demolition or collapse of the building next door jostled the foundation of his building, because parts of the kitchen floor tile are now uneven and disjointed.

"The floor is all undone, so I am wondering did the building move?" said Meilleur.

But the building property manager maintains the foundation is still sturdy.

"There's no indication of cracks in walls or shifting of any sort there," said Byron Gryba, the property manager of 42 Hargrave. "Having said that I guess I'm not the expert to say for sure, so we'll probably have it looked at. But at the moment, it's just the security and safety of the tenants that we're focusing on."

Like Meilleur, Steve Dumas, who has lived at 42 Hargrave since August 2014, said his suite was damaged. His door was caved in and his windows were cracked, but overall Dumas said he got off easy.

"I was worried about a lot more smoke damage or water but I was lucky, compared to some of the other ones," said Dumas. "One of the biggest things I've learned is when there's a fire next door, don't lock your doors because then the firemen have to bust it open when they come in."

Gryba said he's focused on getting the doors and windows in damaged suites like Meilleur's and Dumas's fixed.

Fire alarm contractors inspected the building Tuesday to make sure they wereall working, Gryba said.

Comes as no surprise, says Meilleur

No one was injured in the fire, but investigators are now looking for three girls and two boys, between the ages of 14-15, who have been identified as arson suspects, based on witness reports.

Meilleur said he heard his neighbour yell at a group of teens to get out of the derelict building Monday night. Minutes later, he said the place went up in flames.

"The lady upstairs has a baby and that day, the reason why I knew something was going to happen [was] because she started screaming at them," said Meilleur.

Meilleur said he's called police and the city a number of times in the past to complain about kids going into the vacant building.

"I was patronized by the city many times trying to get the city to do something," he said.

Jacques Fornier, who also lives in the area, said the demolished building use to be a gathering place for "squatters, kids, bums, druggies."

Fornier thinks the building owner should be held accountable for the fire.

The city said it had a demolition order against the building in 2014, but the owner, California resident Benjamin Bingaman, got it suspended. He promised to fix up the building.

Meilleur said the whole experience has him considering moving.

"I don't feel safe here," said Meilleur. "I'm working on trying to get out of here"

Anyone with information about how the fire startedis asked to call police at 204-986-6813or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (8477).