'I have no words for this,' store owner says as Winnipeg strip mall burns

Jagjit Gill had been watching in disbelief since 4:45 a.m. Monday as firefighters battled flames engulfing his business in northwest Winnipeg.

"It's pretty hard for me, very tough for me," he said shortly after 7 a.m. "It's hard to handle. I have no, I have no words for this."

Gill's Supermarket is in a strip mall on Keewatin Street at Kinver Avenue in the Tyndall Park neighbourhood, where emergency crews arrived about the same time as Gill.

Keewatin was closed in both directions, between Inkster Boulevard and Kinver Avenue, and likely would be "well into the day as they work to fully extinguish the fire," the City of Winnipeg said in a news release just after 10 a.m.

Gill received an early morning call from his alarm company that something had triggered an alert at his store. He checked the surveillance cameras, saw smoke and was at the store in 15 minutes.

"This looks like it's big damage, because they're right now working hard on the roof and then this … water is going inside [the] store, and probably there's a big hole on the roof now. So [it] looks like pretty bad conditions inside," Gill said from the scene.

He suspects the business "is going to be closed for some time."

Gill has another store on Pembina Highway, in the city's south end, but said the Keewatin one was the busier of the two.

Firefighters also focused hoses and aerial equipment on the KFC restaurant in the space next to Gill's store.

The strip mall has significant fire and water damage, though the exact impact is not yet available, the city said in its release.

Aerial and thermal imaging from a Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service drone helped direct water streams and locate hot spots, the release said.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time and under investigation.

Another fire in the city also closed a stretch of road during the morning, this one north of downtown.

Fire crews were called just after 6 a.m. about flames burning through a pair of two-storey houses on Elgin Avenue.

When they arrived, the fire was well-involved, consuming the two vacant houses and threatening a third house, which had people inside.

That house was evacuated by firefighters while the other two, engulfed in flames, were blasted with water from an aerial ladder truck and handheld lines from the ground.

The fire was under control when the city issued its news release but crews were expected to remain on scene for some time putting out hot spots.

Both houses already had extensive damage from previous fires and will now be demolished, the city said.

Elgin was closed between Isabel and Ellen streets since crews arrived and would remain so until the demolition is complete later on Monday, according to the city.

The cause of that fire is also under investigation.