Woman, 21, charged with arson after Point Douglas warehouse fire

A 21-year-old woman has been charged withigniting afire that destroyeda Winnipeg warehouse andfilled the sky with plumes of smoke on Tuesday.

As firefighters worked to douse the flames,police controlledtraffic at the scene on Higgins Avenue and Point Douglas Avenue.

That's when someoneapproached officers with the description of a suspect and pointed the officers in the direction the person went, said police spokesperson Const.Dani McKinnon.

Not long after,police found the woman in the Elmwood neighbourhood and took her into custody. She has been charged with arson and mischief in connection with other damageshe allegedly caused in the area.

McKinnon said the woman was previously known to police,which helped them locate her so quickly.

At least two dozen units from the Winnipeg FireParamedic Service were called to the fire atat 2 Point Douglas Ave.just before 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.The warehouse that burnedis owned by Gateway Industries Ltd.

The fire forced police to close Higgins from Sutherland Avenue to AnnabellaStreet. The road wasn't reopened again until 6 a.m. Wednesday.

During the fire theroof collapsed, making it difficult for firefighters to get at hot spots inside, McKinnon said.

Nearby power lines also made it difficult for crews to get an angle to fight the fire, while temperatures close to 30 C also complicatedthe operation, as crews had to rotate frequently to avoid exhaustion, a WFPS spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Astationary railcar not far from the warehouse also caught fire fromblowing embers. That fire then spread toseveral adjoining railcars, said McKinnon.

The battle against themain warehouse blaze progressed over the day and throughout the night until itwas successfully extinguished early Wednesday.

The city said about 100 firefighters were at the fire through the day and evacuated 10 nearby homes.

The blaze was so large at one point that satellite radar detected the heat from the flames and smoke.

One firefighter was taken to hospital in stable condition on Tuesday and another was treated on scene and released, police said, but did not provide details about the injuries.

There have been multiple fires at the warehouse location in the past, and the building was scheduled to have an inspection in three months, said Jamie Vanderhorst, the fire paramedic service'sassistant chief of rescue operations.

Asked if he knew what was inside the warehouse, and whether there may have beenchemicals or other toxic materials, Vanderhorst said he couldnot answer. Healso couldn't say whether an environmental investigation will take place.

"To my knowledge right now, we don't know what was inside. We have not had a chance to enter the structure and no one will be entering that structure because of the safety concerns," he said.

At last inspection in 2018, the building was partially occupied, butVanderhorstdid not know the nature of the business that was there.