Manitoba's fire commissioner is studying Winnipeg fire department policies as well as home construction codes and practices to determine if anything could have prevented the deaths of two city firefighters earlier this month.

Six firefighters entered the burning home on Feb. 4 in Winnipeg's St. Boniface neighbourhood, although one of the home's residents told them no one was in the house.

The decision cost two of the firefighters — Captains Harold Lessard and Tom Nichols — their lives. The others were injured, and two are still in hospital with serious burns.

"In the confusion of those events, they were not certain there were no occupants in the home," says Ken Sim, Winnipeg's deputy fire chief.

"They had to make their assessment of how they were going to fight the fire, protect the neighbouring homes, and hopefully extinguish the fire and save the contents for the family."

Fire commissioner Doug Popowich said he'll examine whether that was the best approach. The department may need to change its risk-assessment and management policies, he said.

"Sometimes a tragedy has to drive change. But until this review is all over, I don't want anyone to think that what they're saying is what was done was wrong," he said.  "Firefighters did what they're trained to do and what they signed on to do. It will be up to us to say, 'We'll do it differently.'"

Sim said he welcomes the review, adding that critical analysis is part of the road to healing, "to make sure what we're asking our firefighters to do is fair and reasonable.

"These two individuals who lost their lives were some of our best people that we had. A very unfortunate circumstance unfolded, and we need to understand how and why that occurred."

A public memorial service in Winnipeg for Lessard and Nichols that attracted thousands of people was held earlier this week.

Report examines fire in new home

In some ways, Popowich said, the fire protection in place at the Winnipeg home worked as intended.

"The residents got out. They were able to get out of the home, and so the home did what it was supposed to do."

But Popowich said his colleagues across Canada are discussing new construction codes and techniques that could better protect firefighters.

"If we are starting to then look at building that facility so that now it's going to stay in a safe enough state for first responders to come five [to] 10 minutes later, that's a whole different issue. But those are the kinds of discussions that are starting to occur now," he said.

Fire investigators are also awaiting a report from the National Research council on how fires burn in newer homes. Popowich expects the report will provide new insight about the Winnipeg investigation.

The house involved in the deadly fire was 16 years old. The current building code does not require sprinklers, heat, or smoke detectors or drywall in garages, where the fire began.

"They've went through a series of different types of fires, including ones exactly like this, where they've … lit homes without any Gyproc on the wall, with Gyproc on the walls, various combinations and permutations of the new construction styles," he said.

"Now we'll have good, concrete facts and data to help us as we go through these types of things."

The NRC report is expected this summer.

The fire commissioner's office concluded Thursday that the fire in St. Boniface was accidental, starting when an ashtray containing cigarette butts was thrown into a garbage container in the garage.