Winnipeg, Manitoba — A fire at a Winnipeg housing complex has left more than two dozen drivers out in the cold and waiting for their ice-encased to be returned to them as they await a full cleanup of the scene.
The fire broke out behind the Kirkwood Block, on Portage Avenue at Langside Street in Winnipeg last week, destroying a number of cars and leaving many others to suffer the elements.
Local resident Mandeep Singh has been paying $52 per day for a rental car while he waits for his vehicle to be recovered from the scene of the fire.
“This is really painful for us,” he told the CBC.
“I’m really scared, like any time, my car could be broken (into) in the dark.”
Singh says he already knows of three stranded cars that have had windows broken since the fire.
The property owners told him that the city is responsible for clearing the damage from the parking lot.
Manitoba Public Insurance says it has made an arrangement to tow roughly 30 vehicles out of that parking lot, though MPI spokesperson Brian Smiley said that he expects most of the ice-covered vehicles to be total losses.
“It’s a situation that is not great for our customers, the people that were involved. It was very traumatic to have a vehicle that’s all of a sudden not usable,” he said. “We certainly understand their situations.”
Smiley says that a towing company will be working alongside a demolition company to try and free the cars.
“They may bring in bulldozers to clear that ice out of the way, essentially freeing those vehicles, allowing the towers to hook them up,” he said.
Smiley said the damaged cars will then be taken to MPI’s compound to be assessed.
