Man dies in La Broquerie rowhouse fire

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This article was published 05/02/2021 (1674 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 66-year-old man died Thursday in a fire in his La Broquerie residence.

Police and firefighters were called at 3:50 p.m. to a rowhouse apartment complex on Des Pignons Street, just north of Choiselat Street.

La Broquerie Fire Chief Alain Nadeau said a fire was burning intensely in one of the units when crews arrived on scene.

“Flames were coming out of the window,” he said, and a northwest wind was spreading smoke across town.

Neighbours told officers that the homeowner had been seen in a second storey window but was unable to exit the home due to the fire, Manitoba RCMP said Friday in a release.

“The neighbours tried to put the fire out with some fire extinguishers, couldn’t do it,” Nadeau said.

“The smoke was going toward them and they could talk to the guy upstairs. They tried to help him jump out of the window. He was telling them he couldn’t fit. There was no going back because the fire was going up the staircase fairly quickly there.”

Firefighters suppressed the flames before entering the unit and removing the man, who was pronounced dead on scene. No other injuries were reported, RCMP said.

Steinbach RCMP and the Office of the Fire Commissioner are investigating the cause of the fire.

Nadeau said firefighters found pizza boxes, paper bags, magazines, and other flammable materials inside the dwelling.

“There was an unusual build-up of fuel all over the apartment, it led to a really rapid spread. After that, it went up the staircase pretty quickly.”

Neighbouring units sustained external damage but remain habitable, Nadeau said. He credited firewalls between each unit with helping to slow the fire’s spread.

Ste Anne Fire Department assisted with the firefighting effort, which kept crews on scene into the evening.