The Woodridge Inn burned to the ground early Tuesday morning. At approximately 12:30am, Steinbach and Sprague RCMP as well as local emergency services were dispatched to the scene. Sprague RCMP reports nobody was on location at the time of the fire and there were no injuries. A damage estimate has not been set and the Manitoba Office of the Fire Commissioner is trying to determine a cause.

Marion Balcaen lives near the site of where the Inn once stood. In fact Balcaen and her husband were at a Christmas banquet at the Inn only hours before it caught fire. She got a call from her neighbour at 1:30 Tuesday morning, informing her that the Inn was burning. Balcaen says she looked outside to see flames shooting high into the sky. "Not a good feeling to see something like this happen in any community," she says.

Balcaen's husband Renald recalls "the flames were coming from one end to the other. It was burning and they were trying to keep the propane tank cooled down with water." Balcaen says he felt really bad to see it burn down, noting it will leave quite a hole in town.



According to Balcaen, the building (*right inset) had been around since approximately 1920 and in the last fifteen years underwent renovations and an addition. "Everybody used to gather for coffee in the morning," he says. And with all of the recreational activities in the area including sledding, ATV riding and fishing it was a popular dining location for people from far and wide.

Duane Boutang is Reeve for the RM of Piney. He says "unfortunately that was one of our major businesses in the area." Boutang adds "that's going to hurt the RM of Piney and there's no other alternate similar businesses that we have in our area other than maybe South Junction and Sprague."

Earl Sawka is the Woodridge area councillor for the RM of Piney. He says it was a big shock to learn the news but "really when it hit me is when I got there and all you could see was smoke and the building was gone and there was nothing left. Then I started realizing what it meant to the area and the loss to the community and so forth."

Woodridge is located about 60 kilometres southeast of Steinbach.


(photo courtesy Nicole Felsch)

*photo courtesy www.gov.mb.ca/assessment