Neighbours of burned Langside Street home say recurring fires reflect 'lack of hope'

Neighbours of a house on Langside Street that was demolished after a third fire at the property in less than a year say recurring fires in the community are part of a deeper problem.

Firefighters were called to the vacant two-storey house, between Sargent and Ellice avenues, shortly after 1 p.m. on Thursday.

No one was inside at the time of the fire. After attempting to put the fire out from inside the house, firefighters moved outside when conditions became too dangerous, the city said in a news release. 

The house suffered significant water and fire damage and an emergency demolition was ordered.

The same house caught fire twice late last year — once in November and again in December.

Robert Weiss has lived across the street from the Spence neighbourhood home for nearly two decades. He says the fires, along with chronic problems like poverty and addictions, have dampened some of the hope he felt when he first moved into the area. 

"It's kind of gone through a cycle now that optimism is kind of gone away. People have moved out as opposed to moving in," he said.

Home's owner struggled with squatters

Kelly Fitzpatrick told CBC News he owned the Langside Street home since 2010, inheriting it after his mother died. He said he'd lived there since November 1962. 

Now he's living in a rooming house in Winnipeg's North End after relocating three other times. Some of his belongings that were left in the house were previously stolen and he figures other things like letters and photographs were destroyed in Thursday's blaze, he said. 

"I went from owning my own house, as tenuous as that was, to being burned out of it and living here," he said Friday night. 

Fitzpatrick said he hadn't lived on Langside since the November fire, adding while the house was salvageable at the time, it would've required thousands of dollars in repair. He was just getting back on his feet after starting a new job, he said. 

There were also long-standing issues with squatters who he said he and police had run-ins with. Fitzpatrick said the unwelcome guests frequented the house's garage, which is where a fire started on the property in December. 

The City of Winnipeg said in a December news release the house and garage suffered significant damage and both were considered to be "a complete loss," noting the building was also damaged in a fire the previous month. 

"I didn't want anybody to think that it was just another abandoned house ... and burned down," Fitzpatrick said. 

"I lived there, that was my house, that was my life, that was my family's touchstone," he said. "My parents bought that house in 1947. I was proud to take care of it all my life. I was the last of four siblings to live there." 

Catherine Kathy and Paromita Nithi moved onto the block just three months ago. The University of Winnipeg students say many houses in the area are in need of major repairs.

"Lots of the houses in downtown are kind of old," said Kathy. "They are not fully renovated, you can see. It's kind of risky to stay in downtown."

Spence neighbourhood residents have documented dozens of buildings that have burned down and not been replaced over the years.

The City of Winnipeg has taken steps to try to reduce risks from vacant and derelict buildings, including charging owners for fire responses, increasing standards for securing vacant buildings.

Mayor Scott Gillingham and city councillors have raised the prospect of taking possession of problem properties.

Problem is 'lack of hope': neighbour 

But Weiss doesn't expect government to solve the problem.

"I think there's a deeper issue than bricks and mortars, and fires or no fires," he said.

"It's a spiritual issue. There's a lack of hope, you know, there's a loss of hope. And when people get despair, well, you end up with that kind of situation [across the street]."

Weiss says he has considered moving away, but he hasn't given up hope for the neighbourhood.

Neither has Tanis Zimmer, who has lived on Langside Street for three years.

"I had so many neighbours come up to me, immediately introduced themselves and say, 'Hey, you know, this is a great neighbourhood. We look out for each other,'" she said.

After buildings are demolished, piles of rubble can take months or even years to get cleaned up.

On Sherbrook Street, the remnants of a former apartment building have sat for more than two years. The City of Winnipeg says work to clean up the rubble will start next week and take up to four weeks.