A young couple was fortunate to escape as the South Osborne building housing their apartment suite went up in flames early Monday morning.

Tenant Alexandra French, 20, was taking a bath about 4:30 a.m. when she heard the fire alarm sound and woke her boyfriend, A.J. Dakin-Schmid, 21. The two quickly fled, grabbing their pet rabbit Nibbles and Dakin-Schmid’s guitar.

Sam Dakin, Dakin-Schmid’s mother, quickly arrived on scene to see the two-storey building engulfed in flames.

“We’re so lucky that they got out,” Dakin said. “I’ve never been more thankful for anything in my life. It was really terrifying, but they’re OK.”

It appears no one was injured in the blaze.

The building was gutted in the fire and had to be completely torn down after the roof collapsed onto the main floor. Winnipeg police remained at the scene Monday evening, sealing off pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

The block, at the corner of Osborne Street and Rathgar Avenue, houses three other suites as well as main-floor businesses Ronald’s Fine Shoes and a vintage clothing shop.

Dakin said her son and his girlfriend had just moved into their suite above the shoe store last Thursday.

“They were so happy to be in their own place,” Dakin told the Sun at the scene. “They called me at 5 a.m. to tell me they needed me to come and pick them and the rabbit up because the building was on fire. By the time I got here flames were shooting up into the sky.”

Dakin said she believed other tenants were out of the building at the time the fire started and that one suite might have been recently vacated.

Ronald’s Fine Shoes owner Brent Goltsman said his father opened the store in 1955.

Source: Winnipeg Sun