REGINA - Regina Fire and Protective Services are coming to terms with yet another fatal house fire in the city limits.
Fire Chief Layne Jackson, spoke to reporters Wednesday afternoon about the fatal fire that occurred on the 2100 block of Winnipeg Street.
This is the second fatal house fire in two weeks, following another fire on Rae Street on Dec. 9 in which two people were also killed. As for how the department was dealing with these emotionally, Jackson said:
“It’s a traumatic event not only for the firefighters, (and) as I said first and foremost for the families and friends of the folks, the community and neighbours. But for us… we really want to prevent these incidents from happening so when they do happen, it’s a tough day.”
Regarding the Winnipeg St. property, Jackson confirmed the fire department got the call at 12:39 a.m. that morning and found the house “fully involved” with flames coming out of the roof.
Jackson said the fire department was able to take “quick fire control over it,” but in the search of the premises two people were found deceased on the second floor.
He was not able to confirm yet to reporters whether in fact the fire did cause the deaths of the two individuals.
"Right now we’re in a joint investigation with Regina Police Services, and the coroner. The coroner will ultimately determine the cause of death.”
The fire department responded Wednesday to the scene with five apparatus and about 20 firefighters. Jackson also acknowledged it was a challenging situation for fire crews to deal with.
“When they rolled up, we had heavy heat, smoke and flames showing from all openings within the home, flames shooting out of the roof, so that gives you an idea of just how heavily involved the house was and how dangerous that was. They quickly attacked that fire. They had to withdraw even at a time and then they went back in, and were able to control and do a search. And we ultimately were able to remove the casualties also from inside the building.”
The fire did not spread to any other nearby properties. Fire Chief Jackson praised the crews for their swift response to prevent other properties from being impacted.
There are some police roadblocks still in place on the scene, but Jackson expects if all goes well with the investigation that regular traffic could resume, most likely tomorrow.
There has been speculation about whether the house on Winnipeg St. was a vacant property. Jackson was not able to say that but he did confirm that there were no utilities at the house, and also no smoke detectors.
“We are still early in the investigation, so more of the findings will come out,” said Jackson.
While it was a major response to this fire situation, Jackson noted this was not the largest they had to deal with this year, pointing to other big fires at properties such as the Gordon block downtown, which had to be demolished due to the damage.
As for the earlier Rae Street fire, that investigation is still ongoing, and Jackson told reporters that the few items had been seized from the property that are being tested at a laboratory to help figure out what the cost was. He said fire investigations by their nature are based on science and are a forensic process, so they may take some time. "In these type of severe circumstances, we want to make sure that we are confirming and eliminating all other potential causes before we come up with something "
Jackson was asked whether the winter season was a factor in the fires.
“We see ebbs and flows with fire throughout the year. Obviously, in the winter season, the coldest season, we see an uptick of fires just with heating and different things that folks will do at this time of year. Also, we are just seeing some occupancies too where folks are living in conditions where there’s no utilities within their homes, and that can cause some extra risks too.”
As for tips for the public at this time of year, Jackson is urging people to have a smoke alarm in working order, calling that your first line of defence.
