Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
1952 - THOUSANDS SEE THEATRE GO UP IN $75,000 BLAZE.

Fire Thursday gutted the 42-year-old Furby theatre, 597 Portage avenue, causing damage estimated at $75,000.

No one was injured.

Friday morning city engineering officials probed the ruins and one said the tower at the front of the building was in a "pretty precarious position." A complete report on the state of the building was expected by Friday afternoon.

HANS FRIES, owner of the Dandy Diner Food Bar, 601 Portage, and JOHN GILLESPIE, 696 Academy Rd., turned in the first alarms after 3 p.m. MR. FRIES said smoke started seeping through the walls into his kitchen. The theatre, scheduled to open at 6 p.m., was empty.

N. V. CAMPBELL, assistant fire commissioner, said he was unable to state the cause of the blaze. "When firemen arrived the smoke was so dense they couldn't enter either the front or rear doors even with gas masks," he said.

Firemen from four stations fought the blaze for more than an hour before bringing it under control. Several hours later, they were still playing water on the artificial tower at the front of the building which threatened to topple.

Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba
February 29, 1952

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