Somchai Pengpharsuks pleaded guilty to 15 fire code violations involving Winnipeg's Aquarius Bath House on Thursday. Two people died in a fire at the business in October. (CBC)The owner of a downtown Winnipeg bathhouse where a fire killed two people in October pleaded guilty and was fined for fire code violations on Thursday.

Somchai Pengpharsuks, who owns the Aquarius Bath House on Notre Dame Avenue, pleaded guilty in provincial court to violating 15 city fire bylaws and was fined $11,000.

His plea came with an explanation that he didn't know about many of the regulations. He said others were minor.

"Leaving the paint can in the service room … I didn't know it's against the bylaw. I had no idea," Pengpharsuks told CBC News in a post-hearing interview.

A fire prevention official for the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) said on Thursday that other violations Pengpharsuks admitted to ranged from having exposed electrical wiring and non-working fire extinguishers to exit doors that were bolted shut.

Peter Kloos said the issues with exit doors were a serious safety concern. In the panic of an emergency, clients in the bathhouse may not have the presence of mind to think the door was bolted, he suggested.

"So in the event of a fire, the person would not be able to get through that exit door or they'd have to first be cognizant of the fact that there was a bolt that they'd have to slide … before they got out of the door," Kloos said.

Steven Yablonski, 23, of Winnipeg and Robert Clark, 62, of Saskatchewan, died of smoke inhalation in an Oct. 11 blaze at the bathhouse.

Fire was arson, police say

Police said the fire was deliberately set, and charged Justin James Rosdobutko with two counts of manslaughter. Rosdobutko is currently free on bail pending trial and is presumed innocent of the charges.

Steven Yablonski, 23, was identified as one of the victims of the fatal bathhouse fire. The other was Robert Clark, 62, of Saskatchewan. (Facebook)Police said Rosdobutko was at the bathhouse with a companion the morning of the fire, but that other person has not been charged. While investigators have not commented on any possible motive for the alleged arson, they did say the victims were not targeted and the fire was not deliberately set as a hate crime.

The business has made the required changes and upgrades and has reopened, Pengpharsuks said.

Pengpharsuks previously told CBC News that the bathhouse complied with all fire regulations, but the city countered by saying they last inspected the business when it opened in 2001.

WFPS Deputy Chief Ken Sim said the city's records showed the bathhouse having 20 "therapy" rooms, plus a sauna, steam room and washrooms, but the business was advertising in 2009 that it had 45 rooms for clients on its website.

Fire officials also said there was no centralized smoke alarm installed to alert emergency crews of a fire in progress there.