Smoke from Sunday fire forces nearby closures

*UPDATE from the City of Steinbach as of 2:30pm:

The fire on Main Street is out but is still being monitored by the Steinbach Fire Department. Minimal smoke is now coming from the site and residents no longer need to shelter in place. Doors and windows can be open and ventilation systems can be used. Anyone with respiratory issues should continue to avoid being close to the area. Thank you for your cooperation during this event.

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The fire that destroyed several businesses in downtown Steinbach Sunday evening is now affecting others in the vicinity.

The Jake Epp Public Library, located on the east side of the building that burnt down last night is closed today according to a social media post which reads: 

“Due to the large and toxic fire across the street from the library, access to the building is currently prohibited. All fines will be waived as the library is closed and book-drop is inaccessible. The plan is for the library to open during regular hours on Tuesday, July 12, however, this could change depending on the situation.” 

Library Director, Chrystie Kroeker Boggs says that normally the library would be closed to the public on Mondays, however, they would normally have some staff, preschool programs and exam writing in the building. As well, she says, their outdoor book-drop would also be accessible to patrons on Mondays.  

“Since Elmdale Street in front of the library is closed to traffic today, no one is able to access the building or the book drop. So, we wanted to make sure patrons knew that no fines would be incurred.”  

Kroeker Boggs also mentions that the smoke smell is pretty heavy in parts of the library, so they have sent home the couple of staff who were scheduled to work today.  

Smoke from the fire Sunday night can be seen creeping over the Town Square businesses.

Meanwhile, around the corner in the Towne Square strip mall, Burrito Hut manager, Jenny Doerksen Collantes writes the following on their social media page:

“So, as most of you know there was a huge fire yesterday and our hearts go out to the owners of all the businesses that were burned down. We will continue to pray for you and your family during these hard times.  

Burrito Hut along with the businesses next to us have also suffered smoke damage and won’t be able to open today (Monday) due to this.  

Power is still out, and we are trying our best to clean and fix everything that was damaged.  

We are not entirely sure when or what time the power will come back on, so stay tuned.  

To our friends that lost their businesses, we stand with you and anything you need please reach out to us, even if it’s as simple as a hug and comforting words. We are here for each other. God bless you and we will get through it together. “ 

The owner of Evangeline’s Flower Hut says, that they were able to get some generators and power up their flower coolers and opened their Main Street business doors just before 12noon on Monday. 

Evangeline Loewen says their hydro is still down and the smell of smoke is still quite heavy inside the business.

“We think that we might be ok, we're not quite sure, but because there's such a heavy smoke odour when you are outside our building and in our garage area and when you walk into here, you think you may be OK, but we're gonna just test it once things clear off a bit because it's hard to judge when your nose is full of smoke from outside. Sometimes, you can't recognize so, but we hope we're OK.” 

Loewen says their coolers were down all night and yesterday afternoon and were just turned on. They are now working on going through their stock and are hoping that most of the flowers will be ok.  

Her reaction to seeing the smoke coming from downtown Steinbach yesterday early evening, “we were extremely worried that it was our building 'cause like, at first I didn't know what was burning here and as I got closer, I'm like wow! It looks like it could be our building, so I was just in big-time panic about it. But then as I noticed it was the strip mall.” 

Loewen says, they had been on Main Street Monday night watching. “The billows of smoke and flames. You know, it seemed like it was pouring out in this direction. It was scary, but uhm, I was hopeful that it would be contained within that little strip mall there somehow. “  

She recalls seeing some of the firefighters walking on their roof. “It was hopeful, you know that it would be ok for us, but of course, it was awful for them. They're just toast over there.” 

In regard to the tenants that rent the suite above Evangeline’s, Loewen says thankfully they were not at home.