Social-housing operator Atira is suing two former residents of the Winters Hotel single-room-occupancy building for causing or contributing to two fires, one of which killed two residents. Read More
Atira, facing two class-action lawsuits, is suing two residents it claimed started the Winters Hotel fire on April 11, 2022, and a second resident for a second blaze.
Atira, facing two class-action lawsuits, is suing two residents it claimed started the Winters Hotel fire on April 11, 2022, and a second resident for a second blaze.
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Social-housing operator Atira is suing two former residents of the Winters Hotel single-room-occupancy building for causing or contributing to two fires, one of which killed two residents.
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The lawsuit comes three years after the historic hotel in Gastown, home to more than 70 people, was destroyed by the blaze started by unattended candles.
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Mary Ann Garlow, 63, and Dennis Guay, 53, were killed in the fire and their bodies weren’t found for 11 days until workers were demolishing the 100-year-old brick building on Water Street.
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Atira, B.C.’s biggest landlord, was already facing two class-action lawsuits over the fire in the SRO building. One by residents who were injured, lost belongings, pets and their homes. The other class action is for losses to ground-floor businesses, such as the Flying Pig restaurant and Bruce Eyewear.
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Atira is also facing a lawsuit from Winter Residences, which had leased the upper floors of the building from the Atira Development Society.
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“The plaintiffs in the class action, Flying Pig action, and Winters plaintiff action claim that the Atira Property Management Inc. was negligent, thereby causing and contributing to their loss, damage and expense,” according to the lawsuit.
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Atira Property Management and its subsidiaries filed the two lawsuits in B.C. Supreme Court. They allege Derek Heaton, who lived in Room 222, caused or contributed to the fire on April 8, 2022, and that Venus Waskahat, who lived in Room 206, caused or contributed to the fatal fire three days later.
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A coroner’s inquest heard the April 11 fire was started when lit candles left on a bed ignited, and the fire quickly spread because the building lacked modern safety features, such as compartmentalization to prevent fire spreading.
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And it heard that the sprinkler system had been shut off after the first fire and several fire extinguishers were also left empty.
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Atira denies liability for both fires in its recent lawsuits and in its responses to the class-action suits.
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Among the allegations against the two residents is that they failed to prevent or extinguish the fires.
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Atria said that if it’s found liable for the fire loss and damages in the class-action lawsuits, it’s lawsuit could let it allocate damages to two residents.
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It’s not known if the residents carried insurance.
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The coroner’s inquest in February 2024 made more than two dozen recommendations, including ending public funding for SRO hotels in privately owned buildings and ensuring SRO buildings be held to higher fire safety standards than the minimum.
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