One person has died as a result of a fire that broke out in an upper level unit of an apartment in the 3600-block of Fourth Avenue in Port Alberni around 11 p.m. Thursday, May 18, 2023.
Officials are not releasing the name of the deceased individual, an adult male, pending further investigation.
Firefighters from Port Alberni, Beaver Creek, Cherry Creek and Sproat Lake fire departments battled the blaze for several hours. The fire left an unknown number of people displaced from the apartment. A group of more than a dozen derelict trailers in a lot beside the apartment were also evacuated.
“There was quite a bit of fire damage to the corner of the building where the fire originated. There was extensive water damage and smoke damage throughout,” PAFD Chief Mike Owens said Friday afternoon.
A house beside the apartment also suffered some fire damage, although crews were able to wet down the exterior of the building to prevent fire from spreading to the second building.
Emergency Social Services were on scene before midnight, trying to find accommodation for some of the people living in the apartment and trailers. Outreach workers and RCMP members familiar with residents who live in the apartment and trailers were canvassing the neighbourhood to account for people.
READ: Another trailer destroyed by fire at Port Alberni’s Wintergreen Apartments
The Bread of Life’s (BOL) 24-hour shelter opened up beds for those displaced by the fire. “We’re expediting funding for extra beds in case we need them,” BOL director of community resources Lisa George said.
Although not many people showed up to the shelter immediately after the fire, George said she expects people will gravitate to the centre over the weekend. “They will be housed,” she added.
Owens said at least 12 people were displaced by the fire. “Due to the nature of the folks that reside and frequent this building it’s hard to pin down the exact number. We do know there’s been at least a dozen people that have been displaced and are now under the care of Emergency Social Services.”
Owens said Friday afternoon it was too soon to tell when or if residents would be allowed back into the apartment. “We’re just in that investigation stage trying to determine the origin and cause of the fire. Once that’s been done we’ll have an opportunity to evaluate what the state of the building is and if folks can re-enter soon.”
Owens said although residents in the trailers were evacuated during the fire as a precaution, there is no safety issue with them going back to the trailers. However, power to the trailers had been provided from the apartment building, and BC Hydro cut power to the building at the fire department’s request Thursday night.
Part of the investigation by the Office of the Fire Commissioner (OFC), RCMP and B.C. Coroner’s office will be interviewing witnesses from the scene, he added.
Caden Thingvold and Jonah Clark had been playing some nighttime disc golf at one of the Dry Creek Park holes under a streetlight on Fourth Avenue when they heard screams coming from down the block.
“We heard a couple of screams and knew something was off…we looked and it just lit up,” Thingvold said. “We heard screaming at 11 p.m.”
“We started walking over (to the building) while we were calling 911,” Clark said.
“We heard people yelling, ‘respond, respond! We have to get out of here,’” Thingvold added.
“That hits close to home for me because I deal with this stuff day in and day out with my job,” working with a post-flood and fire restoration company, he said.
The Wintergreen Apartment building is the second of two apartments that once stood in the 3600-block of Fourth Avenue. A similar apartment caught fire on July 26, 2013 and had to be torn down. The trailers beside Wintergreen Apartments now occupy the space where the twin apartment stood.
susie.quinn@albernivalleynews.com
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