Gastown building to be torn down following fire; 144 people displaced

An aging building in Vancouver’s Gastown where a massive fire broke out on Monday is so damaged, it will have to be torn down.

The four-alarm blaze broke out at the Winters Hotel at Abbott and Water streets around 11 a.m. and took dozens of firefighters about 12 hours to douse the flames and ensure hot spots are put out.

“Our chief building inspector will be issuing an immediate demolition order on this building,” said Vancouver Fire Chief Karen Fry on Tuesday. “Until such time, that building will not be able to be occupied.”

The building is over 100 years old.

Fry says five people were taken to the hospital and two remain hospitalized in stable condition. Six people were rescued from the building.

“One occupant had jumped from the top floor of the building and was located in the back side of the building in a really precarious spot,” Fry said.

The fire is believed to have started on the second residential floor and moved up the building. However, the cause is still unknown.

More than 140 people displaced

The upper floors of the heritage building is the Winters Hotel, an 89-room a single-room occupancy (SRO) hotel. Following the fire, 71 people who lived in the building have been displaced.

“This building houses some of our most precious residents in our city. The impact of them is going to be very traumatic, and we’re aware of that. Our hearts go out to all of those impacted not only the residents but to the businesses,” Fry said.

“The Gastown Hotel located at 112 Water Street was also heavily contaminated by smoke. Smoke is toxic and it’s full of contaminants and carcinogenic and they cannot be occupied at this time. It is also within the collapse zone area.”

Dale McMann with BC Housing says 73 residents have been forced out of the Gastown Hotel, for a combined total of 144 people displaced due to the fire.

“Though we’re working to find permanent housing for all of those people … They’ve been housed in emergency shelter situations. And we’re hoping that we can start to move people into a more permanent basis within the next few days.”

The heritage building has several businesses on the ground floor, including The Flying Pig restaurant.

Fire crews responded to same building three days before

Fry was not able to confirm whether the smoke alarms were working. CityNews spoke with a resident on Monday who said she did not initially hear alarms going off but did hear them later as she exited the building.

The last full inspection of the building was in September.

“At that point, the building was identified as being satisfactory in nature for fire inspection.”

Crews had responded to another fire at the same building just three days earlier. Fry says in that case, the fire, which accidental in nature, was contained to the room where it started, “and a subsequent order for compliance was issued at that point in time.”

It’s unclear whether any actions in that order were followed.

Fry notes the building had a sprinkler system installed.

Waiting for an update from fire investigators at the Winters Hotel in Gastown. A possible “handful” of residents may not be accounted for. Five sent to the hospital yesterday, 2 in serious condition. The roof is collapsed and the interior appears gutted from yesterday’s fire. pic.twitter.com/gN6CDk30YZ

— Mike Lloyd ☕️ (@llikemoyd) April 12, 2022

The SRO is managed by Atira Property Management. CEO Janice Abbott previously said one person remained unaccounted for after the fire, though she told CityNews that person is known to be away from the building frequently.

“According to the program manager, it’s someone who has a partner at another building and is often out,” she said Tuesday.

“There’s a million rumours going around right now about how the fire started,” Abbott said.

She calls the loss of the 89 rooms at the Winters Hotel devastating.

“We already have a housing shortage, as everyone knows. Over the next few days, we’ll kind of begin to absorb what that loss means. I was accompanying folks to shelters as part of trying to help out … I think there was just a lot of shock yesterday,” Abbott told CityNews Tuesday, adding some people have been living in the building for more than 20 years.

Read more: Five people taken to hospital from fire in Vancouver’s Gastown

The fire sent thick smoke into Gastown and the entire downtown area, with the city’s fire chief urging people to close their windows to avoid “toxic smoke.”

If you are in the downtown area, keep your windows shut to avoid the toxic smoke.#vancouver @CityofVancouver @VanFireRescue

— Karen Fry (@Karen_Fry) April 11, 2022

Fry called it a “vivid and dynamic” scene.

“We had people in the community coming to see what was going on. We had worried family members on scene looking for their loved ones,” Fry said, commending the work of everyone involved to look after the people affected by the fire.

Though the Winters Hotel is operated by Atira Property Management and funded by the province, it is privately owned.

“It’s going to take time to really fully absorb what all this means to them.”

Donations for those displaced

In the wake of the fire, some people and groups in the community mobilized to gather supplies and offer support to those affected by the fire.

Bette’s Boutique, which is run by Atira Women’s Resource Society, put out a call for donations Monday, saying tenants “will not be able to return back to their homes.”

Their call has been echoed by many in the community, including Vancouver-area MLA Melanie Mark, who urged people to make donations and drop off supplies at her constituency office.

Abbott, who is also CEO of the Atira Women’s Resource Society, says the response has been overwhelming.

“A huge shout out to everyone who came by with clothing, pet supplies, bedding. It really was overwhelming and we are so grateful for that help,” she said, adding people “did lose everything they have” and that the donations help.

People can drop off donations at Bette’s Boutique at 305 Main Street or email Atira at donations@atira.bc.ca.

The residents of Winters Hotel are now staying in a variety of locations, thanks to support from local partners and groups.

“A lot of folks didn’t want to leave the community and so we set up some common spaces in nearby buildings and people could hang out in those common spaces last night,” explained Abbott. “We were really trying hard to, for obvious reasons, accommodate people as best we could and try and get them to where they wanted to be.”

-With files from Michael Williams and Katarina Szulc

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect Winters Hotel was managed by Atira Property Management.