Buildings left vacant as they await demolition or renovation are posing an increasing safety concern around Vancouver, and the system in place for dealing with the situation is inadequate, according to firefighters and city officials.
Vancouver Fire Rescue Services (VFRS) Captain Matt Trudeau says fires in vacant buildings are some of their biggest challenges, saying they can be particularly hazardous due to the unknowns of what they will find inside.
“We assume inside of all structures that they are occupied until we search it and deem it unoccupied,” Trudeau said.
“Until we go inside and search, we don’t know. And often in these, there are a variety of circumstances that the buildings could be in, that being under construction, under demolition… we don’t know if doors or walls are in place, if the floor is gone, if the roof has been removed.”
Some buildings have had multiple blazes, each one damaging the structures further and making them even more unstable. Trudeau points to the Dunsmuir Hotel as an example, which saw several fires before it was demolished.
Many crew members have been hurt while dealing with collapsed floors or weakened building supports, Trudeau says.
Meanwhile, while fire crews are often the first to respond and can report safety issues, Trudeau says the city and its engineering department need to enforce bylaws and make sure demolitions are carried out in a timely way.
“If there is a clear and present fire risk and fire damage to the people in the close proximity or other structures…we would bring that up,” he said. “But as far as structural integrity goes, that would fall with the city and their engineers.”
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Saul Schwebs, the City of Vancouver’s chief building official, says the city does try to respond to safety concerns posed by vacant buildings, but says it has limited authority and not a lot of bandwidth.
“We do order them to be boarded up and secured, and we are seeing some buildings where they need to be boarded up repeatedly, and those ones we kind of keep an eye on,” Schwebs said.
“Unfortunately, right now we’re reactive to a lot of these situations. But understanding that this is a problem that’s increasing, we’re working on getting some momentum with our vacant building task force.”
Schwebs says development is slowing down right now, which means there will be some buildings standing much longer than they were originally expected to be.
“I think we’re going to have to change our approach and start being more proactive,” he said.
“We’re taking nuisance reports to council and either enabling the owners to knock them down or beginning to ask them to be knocked down.”
Schwebs says the public should actually stop thinking about the structures as being “vacant” and start thinking about them as just being “vacated.”
“There was an incident a couple summers ago, those townhouses at 65th and Cambie that were supposed to have been vacant for nine years,” he said.
“A fire happened, and one of the people who had been inside seeking shelter almost died in the incident. He was trapped for 45 minutes after [VFRS] arrived on the scene and had to be rescued. That was a very close call, and I think that’s kind of shifted some of our thinking, too.”
Schwebs says the city works closely with VFRS, saying fire crew safety is “paramount.”
“If we can be sure that [the buildings] have been maintained so they don’t need to be worrying about falling through the floor as they’re walking through the building — which I understand has happened in a couple of cases — or even chemicals that could cause some issues once they combust,” he said.
“It’s all part of the same work.”
Meanwhile, Trudeau says they are going to keep pushing to make sure dangerous buildings are taken down in a timely fashion, and not just because they pose a risk to firefighters.
“It’s really important for the neighbourhood too, with exposure to buildings that are in very close proximity,” he said. “They’re only feet away from another structure, and that’s high risk for people who are just trying to live, work, and enjoy Vancouver.”
Trudeau says it is important that residents report when they see suspicious activity.
“If you see anyone going in and out of the building, report it,” he said. “There are reporting methods in the city…Someone can call [311], they can go online, and they can put in what’s applicable, if there’s a fire or life-safety concern, if there’s a break and entry concern. We highly encourage people to let us know where these are happening.”
