Rain Diminishes Air Issues From Columbus Fire

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 02:40 PM

Thick smoke chokes the air around the Columbus Hotel this morning as fire fighters try to douse the flames.

Prince George, B.C. – The Ministry of Environment is not concerned about particulate in the air from the fire at the Columbus Hotel today.

Dennis Fudge of the Ministry of Environment says the rain has really helped the situation, “We had some concerns this morning because we are not sure what is in these old hotels. It seems as though the wind is calm however and the rain is keeping the particulates close to the fire as our monitor is not picking up anything unusual.”

Fudge says without a mobile monitor however these activities are hard to monitor, “As we are located on Queensway and upwind we do not register some activity. It seems there have been a few fires in the same location lately that we have not picked up on. We have been pushing for years to obtain a van or trailer we can drive to a site and monitor from the actual location. These would be ideal in instances where fires could last for long periods of time and really have an impact.”

Fudge says the PM₁₀ values can be raised to 22 from activity such as hourly traffic. In the case of fires it could be over 300.

The current PM₁₀ reading is at 13.

There are fears the fire has claimed two lives as there are two people who remain unaccounted for. Three were taken to hospital, one man, in critical condition, has been flown to Vancouver General Hospital. Two other people were treated for smoke inhilation and released.

To see a video of the blaze, click here

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Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 02:40 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Reevus on August 19 2008 4:19 PM

I have heard that the hotel had been up for sale for some time now. It sems odd that it now burns to the ground. Just like a few other fires around town in recent years. Could something be a miss here?

Posted by: REALIST on August 19 2008 4:36 PM

I hope the fact that this fire has happened at the same time we are in the middle of a gang war was just a coincidence. The "BUS" did have a certain reputation as the place to park your Harley.

Posted by: getajob on August 19 2008 8:44 PM

Oh and what is it are u saying? I parked my Bike there many times in 20 years..Was the safest place to park.

Posted by: Leather&Lace on August 19 2008 9:04 PM

That is what I want to know u two are so quick to judge,we also have parked our Harley there for many years and it was the best place to park,it saddens me to see that people like u two can't see the bigger picture,a dear friend"s life was lost,people were hurt,friends no longer have jobs to support their families and we no longer have a place to share our stories
We will miss the Bus and all it's patrons and we wish them well.

Posted by: REALIST on August 20 2008 12:24 AM

I wrote that I hoped that the fire was not the result of gang activity not that it was. I do recognize that lives were likely lost as well as jobs of those employed there. We also lost much needed low income housing at a time where our government could not really care less about low income individuals. This was a great loss to many. It just could be a coincidence that there was a fire there as the building is over eighty years old and not exactly up to current fire code building practices. However, it is not unknown for drug deals to take place in this or any other strip joint and the management of the stripper industry is highly gang involved. I just hope lives have not been lost to the traditional way of dealing with the taking of gang property such as we have seen in crack house fires like the one last night on Emerald Drive.

Posted by: getajob on August 20 2008 9:54 AM

Are you saying that place on Emerald was a crack house?
Is that the same place that was just busted for drugs and possible rape of that 18 girl? And 3 were arrested last week. Are these all conected?