During the city’s April 11 public safety committee meeting, Thompson Fire & Emergency Services (TFES) chief Mike Bourgon went over the calls his department received through the first three months of 2019.
Compared to the amount of responses TFES dealt with this same time last year, Bourgon reported a 32.3 per cent spike in activity, with a large chunk of those additional calls coming from Forest View Suites (formerly known as Princeton Towers).
Of the 176 fire calls TFES received by the end of March, 56 of them originated in the twin apartment buildings on Princeton Drive.
Bourgon said that the vast majority of these calls are not for actual emergencies. Instead, they’re mostly malicious in nature, coming from fire alarms being pulled for kicks.
TFES is working with the apartments’ management, residents and the RCMP to try and resolve this situation.
This news has come to light during a period of increased public scrutiny surrounding Armour Property Management, the company that oversees Forest View Suites.
Not only are many local residents calling out Armour on social media for their lax security and maintenance, but the CBC recently published an article about the company’s management of their buildings in Winnipeg.
CBC's investigation uncovered dozens of allegations, including health hazards ignored, repairs delayed and tenants' rights violated.
One Winnipeg resident said the black mould in his shower was neglected until it grew into fist-sized mushrooms on his ceiling.
