Vacant church on Euclid Avenue destroyed by fire

Firefighters worked all night to extinguish a fire in a vacant church in the 100 block of Euclid Avenue on Monday.

Freezing temperatures caused immense challenges for firefighters, and fire crews were rotated in and out throughout the incident.

The fire was declared under control at 1 a.m. Tuesday, and fire crews left the scene at 3 a.m.

Officials say the building is a complete loss due to the fire.

The church was previously damaged due to other fires in June 2024, and had water and heat damage from fires at a neighbouring building in 2021 and 2023.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Roads in the area are re-opened, however, the city warns the public to stay cautious as the area remains icy due to an accumulation of water.

Officials say the city will monitor conditions and will apply sand and de-icing agents to roadways and sidewalks as required to improve traction.

While vacant building fires are not new to the city, the recent escalation is troubling to the deputy fire chief.

“I don’t have them right at hand as far as our fire response numbers for the month of December, but I will say it was a busy month, over the last number of weeks we’ve had quite a steady stream of our ongoing unfortunately vacant building fires,” said Scott Wilkinson, WFPS Deputy Chief.

“Some of them have been significant, and this past weekend we’ve had some significant fires in that area.”

The first weekend of the year saw three structure fires in a 24-hour span, followed by two more fires on Monday.

Wilkinson says making things even more difficult on crews are the freezing cold conditions. And the trend is also concerning to community advocates.

“I really think that the city and the province have to get together, and we have to come up with a plan here. I would like to see the arson task force implemented again because I think we need to catch these people responsible because it’s just way out of control,” said Darrell Warren, the president of the William Whyte Neighbourhood Association.

But vacant structure fires aren’t the only thing contributing to the uptick… block heaters inside garages also cause significant risk.

“They do create electrical hazard risk, its hard to monitor them because people are leaving them plugged in. and you know the more fires were responding too obviously it’s challenging for our crews they do a fantastic job but at these temperatures, it’s very challenging conditions and our primary concern is obviously the safety of the public when these fires occur,” said Wilkinson.

The WFPS advises against plugging in block heaters inside garages, and is reminding people to always check for frays or tears on cords to prevent fires.