Prince George, B.C. – Investigators with Prince George Fire Rescue say the fire that heavily damaged a 34-unit apartment block on Westwood Drive Wednesday morning was accidental.  However, questions surrounding the blaze remain unanswered at this time.

Historically in fire cases once concerns of criminality have been ruled out the investigation is dealt with by fire officials.  One question posed to Deputy Chief Cliff Warner is why, if the fire has been deemed accidental, are the RCMP conducting a separate investigation of the blaze.  Deputy Chief Warner says “that’s a good question, unfortunately I’ll have to defer to them (RCMP) on that.  I can’t speak to that because I’m with the fire department.”  Asked if Prince George Fire Rescue is handling the investigation of the blaze he says “yes, they did the investigation and they came back deeming that the fire was accidental.”

We asked RCMP Media Liaison Officer Cpl. Craig Douglass why the matter is being investigated by the police.  He says “until we follow up on everything, the investigation will continue.  It doesn’t mean it’s necessarily leaning one way or another but if we have people we still need to talk to or avenues to go down then we’ll still do that.”  Douglass says “until we have the answers to the questions that we’re asking then we’ll see where the investigation takes us.”

While the fire was being battled by 20 firefighters Wednesday morning, people at the scene described hearing an explosion and then seeing flames.  Deputy Chief Warner says “that unfortunately I can’t speak to either.  The fire investigators were able to submit a confirmation of accidental, but they haven’t completed writing up their investigation report.  There are no specifics on any information that was sent out with regards to what people heard or saw or things like that.”

Regarding the explosion scenario, Cpl. Douglass says “obviously we don’t talk about ongoing investigations, whether that be rumor or fact or whatever.  We will follow what information we may get until there is a conclusion to it and then we may be reaching out to the media.”
Asked about the point of origin or specific cause of the fire Deputy Chief Warner says “I don’t believe they were able to determine definitively what caused the fire, however based on the findings everything pointed to it being accidental.”

Regarding the damage to the 34-suite Latitude apartment block, he says “there’s direct fire damage to a portion of the building and there will be smoke and water damage throughout.”  There is loss in financial terms has not been determined at this point.  Fire investigators have determined that all fire and life safety mechanisms in the building worked as they were designed and intended.

Meanwhile, the City of Prince George is working with the province to supply the necessities of the residents of the building, all of whom were displaced by the fire.

Brad Beckett, Deputy Director of the City of Prince George Evacuation Support Program, says the City’s Emergency Social Services program kicked in following the blaze but it is in effect for 72 hours, and that period expires today.  “So we’ve been meeting with the province and some of our community stakeholders such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army and others and working on the next steps.  What those next steps are is how do we transition from having people stay with billets and family members and staying in hotels to a longer term housing option and furniture and things like that.”

Beckett says the aid offered under ESS depends on the severity and scope of the incident.  “In this case when the fire has gone right through the roof and water has gone right through the building, we know that they’re not going to get back within 72 hours.  So we have to plan for that and rather than continuing to put them under the ESS program, which is 72 hours, then another 72 hours and so on like that, which is hard on everybody, we’re trying to be more proactive and work with all of our community agencies to provide that housing option much quicker for these folks.”  Beckett was expecting that an agreement for provincial aid to kick in would have been signed off late Friday and that every effort will be made to ensure that peoples’ lives are not disrupted significantly.

Perhaps surprisingly, the 34-unit building did not have that many tenants.  Beckett says “out of that 34 units, we have 60 people that are registered through our ESS program.  There’s not a lot of families in this building.  It was predominantly single and doubles, and I think there are four or five units that have multiple tenants in a house.”

Beckett says this definitely is not a Monday to Friday operation to provide for those affected.  “We’re continuing work on this.  We certainly recognize the need to get these people into long-term housing so we’re working on what we’re calling a Recovery Transition Package.  And again, that’s working with the province and all of our local partners B.C. Housing Authority, Northern Health, Salvation Army, Red Cross, the list goes on and on.  Right now it’s looking really positive actually so we have made some really great and quick gains throughout this week and the work will continue throughout the weekend.”

As is the case with so many terrible events in and around Prince George, the community is pulling together to help these fire victims out.  Beckett says “we’ve got such a great supportive community and that’s what makes this…….I mean it’s always challenging, don’t get me wrong, but this community really pulls together.  When there’s a crisis it comes together.”