Neighbours on evacuation standby 'rattled,' concerned about access after apartment block residents ordered out

People living in homes surrounding a five-storey Winnipeg apartment building that was evacuated earlier this month due to structural issues are facing some uncertainty themselves, after being told they should be ready to leave with little notice. 

Homeowners who spoke to CBC News said while their main concern is for their neighbours from Birchwood Terrace who have already been displaced, they have questions about what would prompt an evacuation of their homes — and wonder how the apartment building was allowed to deteriorate.

"It's just very sad," said Mike Dumka, whose family received an evacuation standby alert nearly two weeks ago. "You get a little angry, right, because you're like, 'How the heck does this happen? How does a building get into this state?'"

On the night of May 9, the City of Winnipeg used emergency management bylaws to order the owner of Birchwood Terrace to immediately vacate the west Winnipeg building, due to unsafe conditions. 

The order cited an engineer consultant's inspection that said it discovered deterioration in the block's parkade, which appeared to affect the stability of the entire building.

Dumka, who lives with his wife and kids just west of the apartment block at 2440 Portage Ave., said a Winnipeg police officer and a city official knocked on his door that same night.

"It was kind of just like, 'Holy, what's going on?'" Dumka said. "They handed us a piece of paper, an evacuation alert, to tell us the instructions of what to get ready."

People in 30 homes on Olive Street and Assiniboine Crescent are on standby to leave. The city says the evacuation alert will remain in effect until further notice.

"I was like, 'Do we need to have anything packed?'" Dumka said. "And they were like, 'We'll come and then you'll have 10 minutes,'" if an evacuation is ordered.

Dumka said the visit initially left him feeling "rattled," but his thoughts turned immediately to the approximately 250 people living in the apartment block who had to leave their homes.

"[For] them, it's the real impact because it's their lives," he said. "Some people have been there like 20-plus years."

Dumka, his wife, their two sons and two dogs have places to stay if an evacuation of their home is ordered.

"We have some stuff prepared, just in case," Dumka said, but he's been given few other details about exactly why an evacuation of neighbouring homes would be required.

"The way it was kind of framed for us was if the repairs go wrong and the building comes down, that's when we would tell you," he said.