In Saigon Park across from the Ellice Avenue entrance to the University of Winnipeg stands a Basswood tree dedicated to the victims of the second deadliest fire in Winnipeg's history.

The Haslemere Apartments was a 28-unit, three-storey walk-up located a couple of blocks west on Ellice Avenue at Furby Street. At around 1:00 a.m. on the morning of Friday, January 18, 1974, a passing motorist noticed smoke coming from the building and called the fire department. He said “By the time I got back, everything and everybody was in hysteria. Some people were still yelling from the windows and some people were jumping.”

It took firefighters five hours to put out the blaze, after which they made the grizzly discovery of seven bodies so severely burned that they could not be immediately identified. Two more of the 22 injured died in hospital which brought the total death toll to nine.

The fire, caused by arson, shook the city, and helped spur long sought-after changes in the city’s fire code for old apartment buildings.

In September 1975, the brother of fire victim Doris Janecke donated $350 to the city and asked that a tree be planted in this park. The city agreed and the following year this basswood was planted and is accompanied by a large stone bearing a plaque that names the following nine victims.

Ameena Abrahim (30 years old)
Donna De Witt (19)
Manuel Matias (50s)
Maude Matias (56)
Frank Taylor (61)
Ruby Taylor (70)
Mary McLean Nelson
Doris Janecke (45)
Eva Stempkowski (60s)

It was said at the time to have been the first memorial of this sort allowed by the city (Cassidy, C., 2021).

More about the fire at West End Dumplings by Christian Cassidy: The West End's tragic Haslemere Apartment fire of 1974

Image of Haslemere Fire Memorial Plaque by C Cassidy.

Image of memorial tree by C. Cassidy.

In Saigon Park across from the Ellice Avenue entrance to the University of Winnipeg stands a Basswood tree dedicated to the victims of the second deadliest fire in Winnipeg's history.

The Haslemere Apartments was a 28-unit, three-storey walk-up located a couple of blocks west on Ellice Avenue at Furby Street. At around 1:00 a.m. on the morning of Friday, January 18, 1974, a passing motorist noticed smoke coming from the building and called the fire department. He said “By the time I got back, everything and everybody was in hysteria. Some people were still yelling from the windows and some people were jumping.”

It took firefighters five hours to put out the blaze, after which they made the grizzly discovery of seven bodies so severely burned that they could not be immediately identified. Two more of the 22 injured died in hospital which brought the total death toll to nine.

The fire, caused by arson, shook the city, and helped spur long sought-after changes in the city’s fire code for old apartment buildings.

In September 1975, the brother of fire victim Doris Janecke donated $350 to the city and asked that a tree be planted in this park. The city agreed and the following year this basswood was planted and is accompanied by a large stone bearing a plaque that names the following nine victims.

Ameena Abrahim (30 years old)
Donna De Witt (19)
Manuel Matias (50s)
Maude Matias (56)
Frank Taylor (61)
Ruby Taylor (70)
Mary McLean Nelson
Doris Janecke (45)
Eva Stempkowski (60s)

It was said at the time to have been the first memorial of this sort allowed by the city (Cassidy, C., 2021).

More about the fire at West End Dumplings by Christian Cassidy: The West End's tragic Haslemere Apartment fire of 1974

Image of Haslemere Fire Memorial Plaque by C Cassidy.

Image of memorial tree by C. Cassidy.