No timeline for demolition of Point Douglas building destroyed by fire: mayor

The smoke has cleared after a massive fire tore through an industrial complex in Winnipeg's Point Douglas neighbourhood Tuesday, but questions linger about the cleanup as theformer Vulcan Iron Works building joins more than 600 derelict structures throughout the city.

The building burned for most of Tuesday, in a blaze that covered an area as long as a football field.

Fire crews were called out shortly after 5 a.m. and remained there into the evening.Emergency crews evacuated a roughly three-block area around the fire on Tuesday,including a school, as a precaution. No injuries were reported.

The acting chair of the Point Douglas ResidentsCommittee says her first thought when she heard aboutthe fire was "not again."

"There's so many wonderful things about this community,and having it sort of burn down around your ears is just really soul-destroying," Catherine Flynntold CBC News on Wednesday.

Shefeels the city and province have been playing hot potato withthe cleanup of a Februaryfire in the area that destroyed three Main Street businesses.

"While the governments dilly-dally and decide how to clean it up and who [will], that asbestos is blowing all over our neighbourhood," she said.

"It seems like these things don't get cleaned up in a timely way."

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillinghamsays he wants to see the building's charred skeleton cleaned up as soon as possible, but provincial health and safety regulations need to be met to do so.

"We don't have a timeline on when that site will be cleaned up," hetold reporters on Wednesday.

Gillingham said in the case of the February Main Street fire, the cityissued demolition permits for two of the buildings that burned but the wreckage remains after the province issued a stop-work order due to environmental concerns involving asbestos.

The city has been looking at ways to decrease the number of deteriorated buildings by issuing cleanup orders, fast-tracking demolition permits and offering otherincentives to encourage property owners to redevelop and maintain them, according to Gillingham.

Owners of derelict buildings that do not comply may face penalties, he said.

"It doesn't matter where someone lives in the city of Winnipeg, you should not have to look at an adjacent property where there's piles of rubble or boarded-up houses," said Gillingham.

"The bottom line is we don't want vacant, derelict buildings and sites in our communities across Winnipeg. Right now, we have over 600 that's too many."

Gillinghamalso said he'd also like to meet with fire officials to discuss whether property owners should be required to report the contents of their buildings.

There appeared to be businesses operating in part of the Point Douglascomplex,according to fire officials, but no one was inside when Tuesday's fire broke out.

Firefighters saidthere were vehicles, tires, propane tanks and other materials inside the building. At one point, explosions were heard as a brick wall collapsed.

Nearby residents and firefighters need to have an idea of what's stored in a burning building for their own safety,said Gillingham.

"They need to know what they're up against."

Point Douglas is one of Winnipeg's oldest neighbourhoods, Gillingham said, making Tuesday's fire even more dangerous.

"It was built and developed in such a way where you had both residential homes and industrial businesses in the same proximity to one another. We build cities differently now."

'Pivotal to the industrial history of the west'

The oldest buildings at the site of Tuesday's fire, at the junction of Sutherland Avenue and Maple Street, date to the early 1880s.

It was once home toVulcan Iron Works,which was among the largest foundries in Western Canada,taking up a nine-acre footprint. It produced arange of products made from iron, steel, copper, and also wood.

It also produced artillery shells for the Canadian military and parts for naval and merchant ships during the First and Second World Wars.

It employed hundreds of workers in the early 20th century, whose desire to unionize was part of the leadup to the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919.

In 1955, the company became the western division of the Bridge & Tank Company of Canada, and by themid-1970s, all operations had been consolidated at the company's site on Vulcan Avenue in North Kildonan.

The property has sat mostly vacant ever since.

Flynn said the historic building should have been maintained rather than being left to face "demolition by neglect."

"It should have been commemorated years ago. It is absolutely pivotal to the industrial history of the west and the Winnipeg General Strike," she said.

"To have it burn down like this is really sad."

No timeline for demolition of Point Douglas building destroyed by fire

1 year ago

Duration 2:11

The smoke has cleared after a massive fire tore through an industrial complex in Winnipeg's Point Douglas neighbourhood Tuesday, but questions linger about the cleanup as the former Vulcan Iron Works building joins more than 600 derelict structures throughout the city.