The Haslemere Fire Memorial Tree

© 2021, Christian Cassidy

An abbreviated version of this story first appeared in my Winnipeg Real Estate News column of September 20, 2019 called The Stories that Winnipeg's Trees Tell.

Across the street from the University of Winnipeg's Ellice Avenue entrance is the triangular Saigon Park. It is the remainder of a commercial lot left after a 1950s widening of the intersection of Ellice Avenue and Balmoral Street.

Inside that park is a 43-year-old basswood tree behind a memorial stone that commemorates the nine people killed in what was likely Winnipeg's second deadliest fire.

The Haslemere Apartments were located a couple of blocks east at Ellice Avenue at Furby Street. It was a 28-unit, three-storey walk-up built just before World War I.

At around 1:00 am on the morning of January 18, 1974, a passing motorist noticed smoke coming from the building and called the fire department. He later told a reporter, “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.”

Another witness said: "When I reached the apartment block they had just taken away the first person hurt in a jump. There were people screaming and running all over the place and people yelling for help from the windows. I hope I never see anything like that ever again.”

Nine people died in the fire or soon after due to injuries from their jumps.

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 to commemorate her and the other victims.

The following year, this basswood was planted along with a large stone bearing a plaque that names all nine victims: Donna De Witt, 19; Frank Taylor, 61, and wife Ruby, 70; Manuel Matias and wife Maude, 56; Ameena Abrahim, 30; Mary McLean Nelson, 54; Doris Janecke, 45; Eva Stempkowski, age approximately 60.

See my other tree-related posts and columns here.