Firefighters rescued a man who jumped from his balcony to an adjoining roof during a fire at an apartment complex in downtown Winnipeg on Sunday morning.

The fire started just after 8:00 a.m. in a suite on the fourth floor of the high rise building on Donald Street near St. Mary’s Avenue. Thick smoke billowed out of window when emergency crews arrived.

A witness who lives on the top floor of the building saw the man crawl out onto his balcony wearing only his underwear and jump several feet to the roof of the adjoining building.

A man leaps from balcony to escape apartment fire in Winnipeg.

“He just had a little corner of that roof where there was no smoke,” said Paul Dufault. “He was lucky that he was able to have relatively fresh air.”

Our cities brave firefighters were able to contain the fire to one suite and enter it from the hallway. They battled the blaze head on and quickly took control. They found the man on his balcony suffering from burns to his body and took him to hospital in unstable condition. He was the only occupant of the suite according to the CBC report.

Most of the damage was contained to one suite, but the hallway and some adjoining suites suffered smoke and water damage. SI Alarms Ltd. takes fire safety very seriously, and our thoughts are with the people involved. We are here to promote and share important safety information with our friends and associates. Having a 5LB ABC Extinguisher purchased from our office on Portage Avenue for as little as $29.99 can be your first line of defense, with of course a smoke or heat detector.

Firefighters were on scene all morning. No word yet on what caused the fire or how much damage the fire caused. Interested in learning more about our fire services in Winnipeg? Visit SI Alarms Ltd Fire Services Page.