Latest news with #FourCrownsInn
CTV News
2 days ago
- General
- CTV News
‘We need to show compassion': Hotels open rooms for evacuees with 13,000 displaced by wildfires
CTV's Danton Unger takes a closer look at the challenges in finding hotel space in Manitoba for wildfire evacuees. The province says it is working to move hundreds of evacuees out of congregate shelters and into hotels, but says the process is complex. When Manitoba declared a state of emergency last week, Four Crowns Inn General Manager Andrew Pomierny said he set aside about a dozen rooms for evacuees. 'I figured that if we can be ready, then it's just going to smooth the whole process for people that are actually in need of those rooms,' he said. Since then, he's been waiting for a call from the province to fill them up. On Thursday, the call finally came. Pomierny said the Red Cross booked five rooms for evacuees, and anticipates booking another four shortly. 'They're going through a very hard time in their life and having better accommodations, having their own room—I think that helps at least a little bit,' Pomierny told CTV News. It comes as nearly 13,000 Manitobans have been forced to flee their homes due to the wildfires. As of Wednesday, the province said 6,450 evacuees have been placed in hotels while 1,200 are still sleeping on cots in congregate shelters. The Four Crowns Inn is one of several hotels CTV News spoke with that said they had rooms set aside for evacuees and were just waiting for a call from the province. 'Really that process is not simple,' said Christine Stevens, the assistant deputy minister with Manitoba's emergency management organization. Stevens said the province works to match hotel availability with supports evacuees need like accessible rooms, daily meals, and proximity to medical appointments and community. 'All of those things matter a lot to us, and that means that sometimes it's complex matching the right fit to the hotel availability that we have,' Stevens said. But she noted that work is underway. She said since Monday the province has moved 705 evacuees into hotels. She said the province has also brought 10 new hotels onboard with house evacuees, bringing the total to 68. Michael Juce, president and CEO of the Manitoba Hotel Association, estimated there are about 7,600 hotel rooms citywide, and just under 15,000 hotel rooms across the province. He noted several of those would be unavailable—either due to renovations or maintenance, or because they are located in evacuated communities. Juce said many hoteliers are ready to pitch in. 'It's really heartwarming to have them reach out and say, 'hey, we're here to help. How can we support our fellow Manitobans,'' Juce said. At the Four Crowns Inn, Pomierny said he will keep working to provide more rooms as needed. 'We need to show compassion. We need to show understanding,' he said. 'If we all chip in then we can get through it as best as we can, as a community.'
Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Evacuees in Winnipeg wait for hotel rooms just as rooms sit empty
Micheline Houle has been waiting patiently for a hotel room in Winnipeg since leaving the fire-threatened northern community of Garden Hill on Friday. 'People just keep telling me to wait my turn,' she said outside the soccer complex on Leila Avenue that's operating as an evacuation centre. However, at the Four Crowns Inn on McPhillips Street, which is less than four kilometres away, more than 10 rooms reserved for evacuees sit empty. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Andrew Pomierny, general manager at the Four Crowns, said he reserved 12 rooms after the provincial government declared a state of emergency owing to wildfires, but he hasn't received a request for rooms from the provincial government, and no evacuees are staying at his hotel. While more than 1,000 Manitoba evacuees wait in crowded shelters to be taken to a hotel to wait out evacuation orders, hotels across the province have room to spare. Andrew Pomierny, general manager at the Four Crowns, said he reserved about 12 rooms after the provincial government declared a state of emergency for the second time this year owing to wildfires. He said as of this weekend, he hadn't received a request for rooms from the provincial government, and no evacuees are staying at the hotel. 'We are ready to work with anyone that needs help and needs accommodations. We just want to help the efforts,' Pomierny said. Red Cross spokesperson Heather Hogan said more than 2,100 rooms have been secured for wildfire evacuees, but hotel space is being prioritized for people who have unique needs and may require additional support. 'Hotel rooms will be provided for other evacuees as space becomes available,' Horgan said in an emailed statement. As of Monday, 12,000 people had been evacuated. More than 6,000 were staying in hotels in Manitoba and 1,300 were put up in Ontario hotels. About 1,100 are staying in congregate shelters. Houle says while everyone at the Leila shelter is helpful, the conditions are less than ideal. 'The floor is more comfortable than the cots, so I just sleep on there,' Houle said. For two days she's been trying to get a ride to a hotel on Pembina Highway where she has family staying, but no one is around to shuttle her or her husband. 'I don't want to be here, no one does.' Marie McGuirk, general manager of Sleep Suite 22 motel in Steinbach, received a phone call from the province a few days ago asking her to reserve rooms for incoming evacuees, but not a soul has turned up to occupy the four rooms available. During the first wave of evacuations in late May, her motel was more than half-full with fire refugees. 'We're kind of playing it by ear to see if anyone comes by,' McGuirk said Wednesday. The hotelier said she would happily set aside more rooms, but as people make reservations, she can't afford to leave them empty. 'We already have reservations so we want to keep them unoccupied, for now.' Horgan said the Red Cross is working with the province, Indigenous leaders and community partners to 'identify and secure emergency accommodations for people impacted by fires in Manitoba.' Tuesdays A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world. The Red Cross is currently aiding nine communities that have been forced to evacuate owing to wildfires and two more which had to re-evacuate select members for health-related reasons, Horgan said. Pomierny says even if the rooms go unused, he's willing to hold them as long as necessary. 'If you're gonna look from a strictly business point of view probably it would be better to just rent the rooms… even if we're gonna lose some business because of that I think that this is just a part we should play in this situation,' he said. 'I strongly believe that all of us should be able to accommodate people and together we can help a lot of people.' Nicole BuffieMultimedia producer Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College's Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom in 2023. Read more about Nicole. Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
