The deaths of two people in a fire at a downtown Vancouver SRO more than a year ago were “accidental,” the result of smoke inhalation and thermal injuries, a B.C. coroner’s inquest jury has determined.
The bodies of Mary Ann Garlow, 63, and Dennis James Guay, 53, were found in the wreckage of the Winters Hotel at Abbott and Water streets more than a week after the fire on April 11, 2022.
The disaster also hospitalized five people and displaced 140 others from the four-storey building, which also contained a women’s shelter and seven businesses.
The unanimous verdicts, reached after nearly two weeks of testimony at a Burnaby courthouse, carry no legal finding of fault. However, each came with a suite of recommendations for preventing similar tragedies in the future, including that BC Housing eliminate the use of SROs in private buildings.
The deadly fire at the Winters Hotel took place just three days after another fire, extinguished by the building’s sprinklers. On April 8, 2022, Vancouver Fire Rescue Services (VFRS) ordered Atira Property Management — which leased and operated the SRO — to have the fire systems serviced and the sprinklers reset.
That didn’t happen right away, the inquest heard, and on April 11, the sprinklers never deployed to extinguish the flames. VFRS said the April 11 fire was sparked by unattended candles.
No one who worked at the building or had inspected it testified that they were aware of any fire drills that had ever taken place there, and jurors heard frequently about a lack of fire safety training for Atira’s staff.
Hoarded items often crowded the doorways and hallways of the Winters Hotel, and three people testified that they had seen, or been told about, a chained or blocked door or fire exit inside the building.
Over two weeks, jurors also heard from Vancouver Fire Rescue Services and the City of Vancouver that the SRO had “unsatisfactory” inspection results in April and June of 2021, as well as another 18 life-safety violations on its record, including missing smoke detectors, items hanging off the sprinkler lines, and non-operational fire door closures.
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Jurors recommended that BC Housing work with building owners or lease agreement holders to commit them to a higher standard of fire safety, and that it use smoke detectors with adjustable sensitivity, and keep extra fire extinguishers on-hand.
They also recommended the Crown corporation use purpose-built buildings for people with disabilities and complex needs, and ensure that fire safety plans include individualized plans for people with disabilities. It recommended implementation of a “buddy system” for helping those tenants in the event of a fire as well.
Over several days of testimony, jurors heard no special accommodations were in place to alert Guay, who had profound hearing loss, of an emergency evacuation or fire watch.
Winters Hotel manager Gina Vanember, who works for Atira, told them she tried to get Guay a modification like a flashing light or vibrating bed, but those requests fell flat at BC Housing. Atira’s managing director, Grant Barton, also testified that Guay should have been placed in a different SRO with strobes to visually alert occupants to a fire.
In the coroner’s court, jurors highlighted the previous fire safety orders that were ignored at the Winters Hotel, creating confusion about responsibility that led to delays.
Vanemberg testified that on the night of the first fire — April 8, 2022 — she didn’t heed the orders of fire officials to have the building serviced right away because it was a Friday night, and she didn’t think the only company she had approval to call would respond before Monday.
That company, Royal City Fire Supplies, later testified that it does provide weekend service at a premium rate. While Vanemberg said she was under orders not to call companies that charge overtime, Barton later testified that “fire, life and safety should’ve been called … we would never complain about the money spent there.”
On Jan. 31, Alex Eged, lawyer for Winters Residence Ltd., suggested that if a call to Royal City Supplies had been made right away or even earlier over that weekend, “it appears the April 11 fire wouldn’t have happened.”
Added Barton, “The call, if it happened, would’ve changed the trajectory of this.”
The company was scheduled to service the Winters Hotel on the same day of the fatal fire.
In addition to phasing out SROs in private buildings, the jury recommended BC Housing keep an up-to-date tenant list at all times. It also suggested bringing in new legislation to properly fund and ensure the safety of residents with mobility or hearing disabilities, and name it after Guay.
Guay and Garlow’s families attended the inquest, at times sitting in tears during testimony.
Guay has been described as a music lover and storyteller. In a previous written statement to Global News, his family said he “always saw the good in others,” and was “sweet and kind in nature, and had a smile for everyone.”
Garlow has been described as a “street mom” to many in the Downtown Eastside community. Her niece, Misty Fredericks, told the jury on the first day of the inquest that she was her son John’s “caregiver, always looking out for his well-being, ensuring he was safe and fed.”
John was also a tenant of the Winters Hotel. He jumped from the third storey to escape on April 11, shattering both his legs.
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