LOVE UNTRUE? TRUE BLOOD’S ALEX SKARSGARD BACK ON PROWL AFTER SPLIT
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WINNIPEG
Thursday, July 28, 2011 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing.
Messy yards could fuel fire
Stop. Thief
Clean up your properties or risk arson, firefighters warn Police probing 20 separate blazes in Fort Rouge
JAMES TURNER/METRO
JAMES TURNER
@METRONEWS.CA
Ibrahim Hussein, 11, steals the soccer ball from Winnipeg Police Service cadet Jose Da Silva yesterday during a pickup match in Central Park. JAMES TURNER/METRO
Cadets score big with kids The cadets, along with other neighbourhood groups like the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, turned out to play and chat with area kids and show off police cars.
The city councillor representing an area shaken by a rash of suspicious blazes is asking residents to take a hard look at their properties to ensure debris and garbage doesn’t add the fuel to an arsonist’s desire to set fires. “That’s one of the main things people can do, is clean up their properties,” said Coun. Jenny Gerbasi (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry). “That’s an area we might be able to make a difference,” she said. “Everything we can do to prevent it — at least we’re doing something,” Gerbasi said. It’s clear from a brief walkabout in back lanes near the most recent fire — in the 800 block of Hector Avenue in south Crescentwood — that some residents have some work to do. Three pets were killed in the blaze on Tuesday that started
around 1 a.m. Two garages were also destroyed and a woman’s home damaged. Within five or six short city blocks, roughly 20 homes were seen to have discarded piles of wood, furniture, dried yard waste and other debris lying behind their properties. They’re potentially rich targets for a firebug to ignite, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service suggests. A number of residents spoken to yesterday admit debris in the area poses a problem, but none would go on record to voice their concerns. One resident of Weatherdon Avenue was outside working to clean up his backyard and parking pad, saying he was concerned about being targeted. It was a similar scene north of Grant Avenue in the Earl Grey neighbourhood, which has also been hit by fires. Police have said there’s noth-
A pile of old fence boards sit next to a garage in Crescentwood.
ing yet to suggest any of their current fire investigations are linked. Gerbasi has brokered a community information meeting, slated for 7 p.m. on Aug. 10 at the Earl Grey Community Centre. Members of the Winnipeg Police Service and its arson task force will be there.