The manager of a downtown Vancouver SRO that was razed by a deadly fire more than a year ago told a coroner’s inquest Thursday that she had no formal fire safety training whatsoever.
As fire crews scrambled to evacuated the Winters Hotel on April 11, 2022, Gina Vanemberg told inquest jurors that a list of tenants was also forgotten in the building, against protocol, leaving her to find one elsewhere and provide it to BC Housing.
Vanemberg said the Crown corporation was tasked with doing a roll call using that list of tenants at a muster point, despite not being familiar with the residents of the building.
Mary Ann Garlow, 63, and Dennis James Guay, 53, were left behind — their remains found 11 days later in the rubble at Abbott and Water streets.
Fighting back tears at the Burnaby courthouse, Vanemberg said she knew both Guay and Garlow, describing herself as “quite friendly” with both of them.
“It’s taken quite a toll on me. I felt very close to the two people who passed away,” she said. “It’s been quite difficult. It’s a big loss.”
Vanemberg said there was no special system in place to alert Guay — who had profound hearing loss — of an emergency evacuation or that the Winters Hotel had been recently put under a fire watch. She told the jury that none of the building’s tenants were informed of the fire watch and there was no rule requiring it.
Her previous efforts to secure Guay a modification, such as flashing light or vibrating bed, had fallen flat at BC Housing, she added.
Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services believes unattended candles were to blame for the fire that killed Guay and Garlow, displaced another 140 people and destroyed the four-storey heritage building that also contained a women’s shelter and seven businesses.
Over three days, the inquest has heard that there were no working sprinklers when the fire began, that four fire extinguishers had been emptied and not replenished and that the fire alarms never went off.
On April 8, 2022 — just three days before the tragedy — the Winters Hotel sprinklers had extinguished a small fire in one of the units. At that time, fire crews ordered that all of the building’s fire systems be replaced and serviced, and issued a notice of violation and 24-hour fire watch.
Vanemberg said she remembers being issued a notice of violation that day, but didn’t call Royal City Fire Supplies to replace the sprinklers that night because it was a Friday evening and she suspected she would receive an automated message telling her she would receive a response on Monday. That was the only company she could call, she added, because it was the only one on the authorized trades list.
Global News reached the company Thursday, and the person answering the phone said that while premium would be charged for weekend service, the company would indeed respond to a request. Vanemberg said staff were under instructions not to call companies that would charge overtime and to stay within the budget wherever possible.
Vanemberg said she had booked Royal City to reservice the building on the afternoon of the day of the fatal fire.
Vanemberg assumed management of the Winters Hotel in 2020. At the time, she told the inquest, she received a “red book” of fire safety procedures, but no one from her employer — Atira Property Management — ever reviewed it with her or confirmed that she had read it.
In her two years at the rooming house she never participated in a fire drill because of health and safety restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, she told the inquest.
Two people have testified that they saw a chained-up door or fire exit at the building at times, but Vanemberg said Thursday that’s not something she had observed.
In the end, she said staff need better training and more funding.
Nearly 30 witnesses are scheduled to speak over two weeks at the inquest, including doctors, police and fire officials. Legal counsel for the victims’ families, the City of Vancouver, the B.C. government, Winters Residence Ltd., BC Housing, the Management Commission, and Atira are all expected to attend.
Atira originally said it was believed all residents of the Winters Hotel had escaped on April 11. In a statement released on its website at the start of the inquest, the non-profit said it was “relieved” that the process was underway and looked forward to findings that “lead to higher health, safety and security in the supportive housing sector.”
The inquest will not determine fault but will document the facts related to the deaths, including the causes and circumstances.
“We look forward to the final coroner’s report setting the record straight on the facts, so we all can take the necessary actions going forward to improve safety and provide clarity for everyone,” reads the statement from Atira Women’s Resource Society.
“There is still considerable work to be done with BC Housing to support the building and safety upgrades that are desperately needed to provide safe and appropriate housing for this community. As an operator of this housing, much of which is over 100 years old, Atira has the data to show that maintenance and repair is a continuous and ongoing challenge given the age of these buildings.”
The non-profit has said it is continuing to offer counselling and support to those impacted by the tragedy.
Earlier this week, Vancouver Fire Capt. Kris Zoppa testified that when he attended the Winters Hotel for the extinguished April 8 fire, he got a “a bad feeling about that building,” noting that the fire alarms weren’t working, it was in general “disrepair” and tenants’ hoarded items were posing a safety risk.
Neda Pessione, whose business shared the aging the building with the SRO, said that she never participated in a building fire drill either. At times she had gone in, she testified she had seen “lots of garbage” in the halls and doorways of units, including bicycle parts, furniture, electronics, motors, extension cords, shopping carts, and more.
She also told jurors she saw a fire exit that was covered, locked and chained. She said she inquired about the blocked exit, and was told by the front desk that it prevented unwanted guests from entering the building in the middle of the night.
Testimony is scheduled to continue Friday and each business day until Feb. 1.
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