{"id":545063,"date":"2026-03-18T18:42:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T18:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/545063\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T18:42:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T18:42:14","slug":"shocking-number-of-fatal-house-fires-in-winnipeg-a-public-health-crisis-firefighters-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/545063\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Shocking number’ of fatal house fires in Winnipeg a public health crisis: firefighters’ union"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

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Estimated 5 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Six people have died in house fires in Winnipeg in under three months, and the local firefighters’ union blames critical staffing shortages it says the city has promised to address for years.<\/p>\n

The average fire fatality rate in cities across Canada is about 0.5 or 0.6 for every 100,000 people, “and we’re currently sitting at about five times that rate here in Winnipeg,” said Nick Kasper, president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

“For years we’ve been reporting some of the highest losses of life and property in the country, and typically we see ourselves around double the [national] rate. Now it’s evolving into a public health crisis here,” he told CBC Manitoba’s Information Radio host Marcy Markusa on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“It’s a shocking number.”<\/p>\n

Crews who fought a fire in the city’s East Kildonan area on Monday night found a person dead inside the home. That was the sixth fire-related death since Dec. 29.<\/p>\n

“Our firefighters were devastated,” Kasper said.<\/p>\n

Fire-related deaths are extremely preventable and not entirely unpredictable, Kasper said.<\/p>\n

They follow well-established patterns tied to housing conditions, fireproofing infrastructure, public education and prevention programs and emergency response capacity.<\/p>\n

The highest volume of structure fires in Winnipeg happen in neighbourhoods with older housing stock and vulnerable populations \u2014 seniors living alone, people in overcrowded homes, and residents typically on a lower socio-economic level, Kasper said.<\/p>\n

“That’s what our members see every day. These are the neighbourhoods where the risk factors intersect and where we’re seeing these outcomes.”<\/p>\n

\"ANick Kasper, president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg, says the current rate of fatal fires in the city is becoming a public health crisis. (Josh Crabb\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Back in 2020, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service developed a 15-year strategic plan aimed at addressing infrastructure deficits and rising call volumes<\/a>. It identified critical staffing shortages in fire prevention, public education, examination and fire investigation branches, and called for investments in those areas by 2022, Kasper said.<\/p>\n

Six years later, with call volumes increasing<\/a>, “not a single one of those recommendations has been filled,” said Kasper.<\/p>\n

The plan also proposed reducing 30 stations to 23 for better efficiency, investing in new technology, and upgrading facilities to meet demands from a growing population.<\/p>\n

“That reference in 2020 was the city’s own strategic direction, which estimated call volumes out to 2040,” Kasper said.<\/p>\n

“We exceeded those years ago and have added no new resources. We’ve simply shelved that report and largely ignored any recommendations other than consolidation of stations.”<\/p>\n

‘Falling far behind’ other cities: union<\/p>\n

What the city is now seeing in terms of the soaring rate of fatalities is its own doing, he said.<\/p>\n

“[If] we take the time to make a plan and we don’t follow the plan, I think the consequences of our failure is our own responsibility.”<\/p>\n

CBC has contacted the City of Winnipeg for comment.<\/p>\n

\"AA person was found dead inside this home on Trent Avenue in Winnipeg on Monday night. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey\/CBC)<\/p>\n

The Office of the Fire Commissioner cited six (6) house-fire related deaths in the entire province in the fiscal 2025\/2026 year but noted the data is preliminary and “reflects only incidents that have been reported and reviewed to date,” the number could actually be higher.<\/p>\n

The numbers “may be updated as investigations are completed,” the commissioner’s office said in an email to CBC News.<\/p>\n

Kasper said in addition to a need for front-line firefighters, the 2020 strategic plan identified a shortage of 11 positions in fire prevention, two in public education, and four in fire investigations.<\/p>\n

“That was the city’s own plan that they put together after doing a review,” he said. <\/p>\n

Properly staffing those positions could go a long way in preventing fires in the first place, by targeting high-risk communities, inspecting homes, installing smoke alarms, and teaching fire safety tips around cooking and electrical use, he said.<\/p>\n

“We are not putting our efforts into preventing incidents before they occur,” said Kasper. “The alarming statistics that we’re seeing here in Winnipeg are a consequence of that.”<\/p>\n

Municipalities across Canada compare performance indicators \u2014 things like investment in fire services, response times and total losses, Kasper said.<\/p>\n

“Over the last decade, Winnipeg has reported among the lowest cost for its fire service, meaning it invests among the lowest into resources. And we’ve had the slowest response times and the highest rate of property and life loss anywhere in the country,” he said.<\/p>\n

Cities like Calgary and Toronto are investing in hiring hundreds of new firefighters, building new stations, and adding new equipment to keep up with population growth.<\/p>\n

“While it’s impossible to measure the number of fires prevented \u2014 that don’t occur \u2014 it’s very easy to measure our performance compared to the rest of the country. And we’re falling far behind where we should be,” Kasper said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 5 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-545063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}