Some residents of a Cottonwood Avenue apartment that caught fire Thursday afternoon may be able to move back into the building sooner than initially thought.
Fire Chief Wade Pierlot told The Tri-City News that the structure had strong fire separation between its four sections and most of the damage was contained to the 12 units on the eastern part of the property. Those apartments will likely not be habitable, but he said he was still holding out hope that only minor restoration work would be needed on the other three sections before its 36 units could be reoccupied.
"We are trying to determine if the end unit, which was directly impacted by the fire, whether we can isolate that," he said while surveying the damage Friday morning.
One of the big hurdles to re-occupying the structure involves getting the building's emergency suppression systems back online. However, if that cannot be done in a timely manner, Pierlot said the department may post a manual physical fire watch — essentially eyes on the property watching for the unlikely event that another emergency situation occurs.
"It's labour intensive," he said, later adding "it's a matter of whether we can get the whole building up and running to its safety standards. We don't want to put these people back into an untenable condition."
While there is still no timeline on when tenants will be allowed to re-occupy the apartment, fire investigators, city building bylaws and a restoration company were on scene surveying the damage Friday morning. Concert Properties, which owns the building, has also been helping, Pierlot said.
The fire broke out shortly before noon on Thursday and was started by a plumber's torch. He tried to contain the flames himself but it quickly spread into the ceiling and he called 911.
"He had taken some precautionary measures but it still got away from him," Pierlot said.
Complicating matters was the fact that a second fire was taking place on Wickham Drive at the same time and firefighters from neighbouring municipalities were called in to help.
Eighty-six people, including several refugee families, were displaced by the Cottonwood Avenue fire. Emergency Social Services are coordinating hotel accommodations for the victims for the first 72 hours, after which time agencies like the Red Cross will help arrange support.
Area residents are also pitching in to offer financial support through an account setup by the Coquitlam Foundation.
Those who wish to make a donation can go to www.coquitlamfoundation.com/how-to-donate and click on the Donate Now button on the bottom right-hand corner of the page. From there, select the Community Fund icon in the drop box and reference "Cottonwood Fire" in the message section. Donors will receive tax receipts. There is also a GoFundMe page started by Coquitlam Coun. Teri Towner at https://www.gofundme.com/2gx262c.
The city of Coquitlam will also be updating residents and victims on its website at www.coquitlam.ca.
@gmckennaTC
