Mount Pleasant apartment fire ruled ‘accidental caused by candles’
Posted August 10, 2023 12:15 pm.
Last Updated August 11, 2023 6:06 am.
The fire in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood that displaced more than 70 people has been deemed “accidental caused by candles,” CityNews has learned.
The Vancouver Fire Rescue Services (VFRS) tells CityNews its fire investigators determined the cause after the massive blaze took hold of an apartment building on July 27 along East 10th Avenue at Prince Edward Street.
The findings come as the building’s owners were accused of violating multiple fire codes in 2022.
According to land title documents, the owners of the building are Fu Ren and Feng Yan. Court documents show VFRS accused them of violating 20 fire safety-related by-laws in November 2022 — including failure to maintain fire extinguishers, fire doors, and the fire alarm system.
Approximately 70 firefighters responded to the three-storey blaze, one of whom was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, and three others were treated for heat exhaustion at the scene.
-With files from James Paracy, Hana Mae Nassar, Martin MacMahon, and Monika Gul
