Winters Hotel fire: One year later, resident feels pain over loss

It’s been one year since the historic Winters Hotel in Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood was ravaged by fire, leaving two people dead.

In addition to claiming two lives, the fire destroyed the building and everything in it, leaving many residents with nothing.

Jennifer Hansma tells CityNews she barely made it out. She recalls having just finished a volunteer shift and was home sleeping when her friend kicked in her door.

She credits this friend with saving her life, saying if it wasn’t for Nicole, “I’d be dead.”

“There was no way of me knowing that there was a fire that morning. I had just gotten home from doing my volunteer work, maybe three hours before that, and I was going to bed. I lost my cat in the fire, which was my best friend,” Hansma told CityNews on Tuesday.

“The hallway was black. I shut my door to see if I could get my cat out. I couldn’t find him, he was hiding under the chair or something. And when I opened the door to go out I walked through a fireball. I burnt my fingertips trying to open my door. And then I don’t remember. I remember walking out of the building and that’s the last thing I remember until hours after.”

The heritage building was over 100 years old, with the upper floors making up the Winters Hotel, an 89-room single-room occupancy (SRO) hotel.

Following the fire, 71 people who lived in the building were displaced. The structure was demolished by the city just days after the deadly blaze, during which time the bodies of 53-year-old Dennis Guay and 68-year-old Mary Ann Garlow were discovered.

The Winters Hotel after demolition following a deadly fire on April 11, 2022. (Chad Harris, CityNews Image)

“Before the fire, the Winters was sort of like a family. And they have basically broken us apart,” Hansma said.

It was determined by a preliminary investigation last year that the sprinkler system at the Winters Hotel had been turned off days before the fire rendered the entire building unsafe and set for demolition. That was done after another fire just days prior, on April 8, 2022.

The province has ordered a Coroners Inquest, but that has yet to begin. At the time, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said the findings of the inquest would result in recommendations that “could help prevent fires in single-room occupancy buildings and save lives.”

Related articles: 

• Coroner’s inquest to look into deadly Winters Hotel fire in Vancouver

• Vancouver hotel fire survivors plan to launch class action lawsuit

• Sprinklers turned off at Winters Hotel days before devastating fire: investigation

In a statement, housing operator Atira is urging the government to commence that inquest and said the anniversary is a time to remember and honour those who died.

But now, a year later, Hansma says she and others are still struggling to get back on their feet. She says she’s nervous and tired.

“There were no safety aspects. There was no alarm, no sprinkler… There was nothing. No fire extinguishers,” she recalled.

While many of the residents got out of the building with just the clothes on their backs, Hansma says she also lost items that were priceless.

Vancouver firefighters douse flames at the Winters Hotel in Gastown on Monday, April 11, 2022. (Michael Williams, CityNews Photo)

“My mother’s engagement ring and my grandmother’s wedding ring from Scotland were in that fire. A lot of personal heirlooms. And I’m not the only one who lost a lot. Everybody lost everything,” Hansma said.

While these are things money can’t replace, she is joining many others in calling for compensation. Survivors of the fire, along with the Our Homes Can’t Wait Coalition, say they are planning to launch a class action lawsuit against Atira Property Management, the City of Vancouver, and Winters Residence Incorporated.

While Hansma has been moved into a new SRO also run by Atira, she says the situation isn’t a good one. Detailing poor living conditions, she says fire alarms are constantly going off — adding further to her anxiety.

“Just because we’re in the lower income of society, it doesn’t mean that we’re less than anybody. We deserve the same respect as anybody else,” Hansma said. “We just want our life back.”