Mount Pleasant building being demolished after 3 fires in past year

Demolition is underway Friday morning on an apartment building in East Vancouver that’s been the site of three fires over the past year.

Crews are at Guelph Street and East 10th Avenue, in the city’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.

The apartment building has been vacant since July 2023, when more than 70 people were displaced after a major fire broke out.

Last year, residents said their possessions were burned, smoke damaged, and later looted before they were able to collect what they could from the remnants of the initial fire.

Weeks after that fire, CityNews learned that the building owners had been accused of violating multiple fire codes.

No one was hurt in the latest fire which happened just week, however, Assistant Fire Chief Keith Stewart told CityNews that while no one was discovered inside, Stewart suspects the fire was caused by a person who had been in the already burned building.

One former resident, Taylor Calhoun, told 1130 NewsRadio last week that the building should have been destroyed after the first fire. Instead, she says her and other residents’ belongings were there as fuel for future fires.

“Everybody had to leave their furniture. No one was allowed to take furniture with them — so couches, beds, things like that. We had very limited time to go in, so people still had a lot of their lives in there where they couldn’t take it. So, there was still a lot of stuff in that building. And again, the whole structure, which is made almost entirely of wood, I believe, caused it to be as bad as it was,” said Calhoun.

Former residents, neighbours happy to see burned building demolished

Multiple people watching the demolition Friday told CityNews it comes as a great relief.

“It’s been a pain, quite frankly. It’s caught on fire multiple times since [the first fire], and it’s just a mess,” said Claire Vollrath-Mield, a neighbour of the building.

“It’s more of a liability than anything.”

Don Gardner, who lives kitty-corner to the building, says it’s been a “constant nightmare.” He says the process has been plagued with bureaucratic foot-dragging and it’s lucky that no one died as a result of the three fires.

The landlords of 414 East 10th Avenue, Fu De Ren, also known as Henry Ren, and his wife, Fang Yan, have a record of multiple fire safety violations at buildings they own, including a 2009 fire in Burnaby that left one woman dead.

“Why the owner can get away with that is totally beyond me,” said Gardner.

Meanwhile, a former resident of 414 East 10th Avenue named Dave says it’s “a cleansing,” for everyone in the neighbourhood.

“It should have happened immediately after the first fire, especially when everybody knew about the squatters and looting. I mean, it’s a recipe for disaster,” said Dave.

Another former resident, Harvey Tyndal, says he’s “very happy” to see the building go.

Last year, residents said their possessions were burned, smoke damaged, and later looted before they were able to collect what they could from the remnants of the initial fire.

“It’s about time it got torn down after a year of headache,” said Tyndal.

He claims he complained to the landlord and the city for 15 years about the condition of the building before it was too late.

“He ruined the whole thing. And this place could have been up to par, but 311 wouldn’t do nothing about it.”

Tyndal says he hasn’t received any communication from the landlord.

City of Vancouver Chief Building Officer Saul Schwebs says the latest fire proved the building was too much of a safety hazard.

“Following the fire on last Tuesday evening, I made the determination that the building was in an unsafe condition. It was more damaged during that fire than it was the initial fire in July of last year. So we are in the process taking immediate corrective measures as permitted under the Vancouver building bylaw to remedy this unsafe situation,” said Schwebs.

Due to the age of the building, crews are treating it like it contains asbestos — though he says no testing has been done to confirm that.

Schwebs says any costs will be passed on to the building owners. Once the building is down, Schwebs says the building will be tarped and pieces will be removed over the next six weeks.

—With files from Cole Schisler