Police had to help people escape a deadly house fire through a back window earlier this week because the rear door had been boarded up — a dangerous practice, fire officials say, but not an illegal one.

Police helped 10 people, ranging in age from nine months to 66 years, to exit the burning house through a rear window.
(CBC)

Two police officers patrolling the North End area spotted an individual throwing something at the Mountain Avenue house early Tuesday morning, moments before the home's front porch erupted in flames.

The constables helped 10 people — ranging in age from nine months to 66 years — escape out a rear window because the home's front door was blocked by the fire and the back door had been boarded up to keep out the winter cold.

There's nothing illegal about that, but Tuesday's fire shows it's not a good idea, says Manitoba fire commissioner Doug Popowich.

"If you look at it from a regulation point of view, they're not doing anything that's against any law, but what they're doing is creating an unsafe environment for their families and themselves," he said.

"The door was there as a means to get in and out, and when you block it off, now you've got one less way to get out of a building. If you take a fire like we had two nights ago, where fire is blocking the front exit, then you've got to use the windows because you have blocked the back door."

Investigators do not believe Nathan Starr, 14, was the intended target of what they have called a gang-related arson.
(Winnipeg Free Press)

Firefighters found Nathan Starr, a 14-year-old boy who had been staying over at a friend's house, on the home's third floor. He died later in hospital.

A 27-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy have been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the fire, which police believe was deliberately set.

Investigators say there was a gang connection to the fire, but they do not believe Starr was the intended target.