No one injured after pair of vacant houses catch fire near downtown Winnipeg

A home on the edge of Winnipeg's downtown corehadto be evacuated Wednesday night while firefighters battled a blaze in two vacant houses nearby.

A release from the city said the fire was reported shortly before 7 p.m. in the 500 block of Balmoral Street. The city's website showed as many as 20 vehicles from the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responded to the alarm.

The intersection of BalmoralStreet and Sargent Avenue was closed off on all directions while crews worked to douse the fire, which fully engulfed one of the homes and eventually spread into the other.

The city's release saidthe fire was declared under control at 7:44 p.m. The house where the fire started sustained significant damage and had partially collapsed, it said.

Crews evacuated a neighbouring house as a precaution. No injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.