Man trapped in basement of burning house rescued by Winnipeg police

A 53-year-old man who was trapped in a burning house is now in stable condition after two Winnipeg police officers removed a boarded-up window to rescue just after midnight on Friday.

Officers were calledjust a few minutes after midnight about a fire in a two-storey home in the 700 block of Flora Avenue, east of Arlington Street in the north Winnipeg Dufferin neighbourhood.

They found the man trapped in the basement,which was fully engulfed in flames, making it impossible to enter through the doors, police said in Friday news release.

The basement windows were boarded up withplywood and security bars.

The officers useda shovel and ice scraper they found in the yard to start removing the plywood from the window, before backup arrived with breaching tools to breakthrough to the basement, the release said.

Once inside, officers found the man and led him throughthe smoke and flames towardthe window, where he was rescued from the home, police said.

He was taken to hospital in unstable condition, but has since been upgraded to stable.

Two Winnipeg police officers were treated at the scene by paramedics for minor injuries.

Winnipeg firefightersdeclared the fire under control by about 12:40 a.m, a news release from the City of Winnipeg said.

Police say investigators consider the fire suspicious and are investigating it as a possible arson.