Knife-wielding man arrested after 'absolutely horrifying' assaults on 2 Winnipeg firefighters

A19-year-old man armed with a knife was arrested Tuesday night after two firefighterswere assaulted while resetting the fire alarm system at an apartment building.

Just before 11 p.m. on New Year's Eve, members of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service were at an apartment building on Elgin Avenue between Isabel and Sherbrook streets after a fire alarm went off.

The firefighters were going through the building floor by floor,resetting the fire alarms, when they met a group of people outside a suiteon the eighth storey, police said.

One of them punched and threatened to kill a firefighter,before arming himself with a knife, police said in a news release. Another confrontation broke outand a second firefighter was injured,the news release said.

Firefighters restrained the man until police arrived just after 11p.m.

He resistedarrest, butwas taken into custody.

Both firefighters and the suspect were treated at a hospital for injuries.

Defensive wounds to hands

The two firefighters are "physically OK and will recover,"butpsychologically, that could take time, Winnipeg's fire chief said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

"It's very disheartening to stand in front of you on New Year's Day to kick off 2020 in this manner. This is one of the more acute episodes of violence toward first responders that we've been seeing," Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Chief John Lane said.

One firefighter sustained defensive knife injuries to his hands, Lane said. The other has faceand hand injuries.

The timeline for their return to work is uncertain.

The Winnipeg Police Service also reported three of its officers were assaulted in two separate incidents over an eight-hour period on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

"It's extremely concerning that responders who go into scenes with the intention of helping and assisting and serving citizens are faced with increasing levels of violence," Lane said.

The nature of their work puts them in unpredictable circumstances, often in very close quarters in apartmentbuildings, residencesand the back of ambulances where it can be difficult to avoid violence when it occurs,Lane said.

"It's absolutely horrifying," he said.

"We go to a call that has no indication of any sort of violence or anything like that, and we end up in this situation where there was very clearly a life threat to the staff involved, and they had to take the defensive measures that they could with the equipment that they had at hand."

Not responding to emergencies is not an option for first responders, Lane said.

"But on the other hand, we need to do everything we can to try to keep our staff as safe as possible."

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service has been modifying its approachin recent months toavoid violent situations and ensure appropriate city resources are responding to calls with a high priority on both patient care and first responders' safety, Lane said.

They hired a consultant several weeks ago to review the circumstances surrounding the most violent incidents, and how to better prepare for them, he said. Lane expects the results of that review to come in early 2020, and then they will implement those recommendations.

Lane attributed therising violence to social determinants of health and increased methamphetamine use.

"It's unfortunate that we have to bring about that change," he said.

A 19-year-old faces charges of assault, assault with a weapon, uttering threats of causing death or bodily harm and resisting a peace officer.

He remains in custody, police said.