Kelowna crane collapse: Evacuation order lifted, residents return home

Officials say the collapsed crane at the construction site in downtown Kelowna had been safely dismantled and removed.

The area is now deemed safe. And as a result, the evacuation order and local state of emergency for the area had been lifted.

On Thursday, residents of the nearby Carmel Court building on Bertram Street were finally allowed to return home.

This, despite fact that the building’s manager was not in favour of it.

“I pushed really hard to hold it off a day or two more,” Carmel Court property manager Jan Steffan told Global News.

“People are going back into stinky apartments with rotten food, meat, whatever products and I don’t think it’s safe.”

Remediation is underway at the 64-unit building on Bertram Street after being under an evacuation order for days due to the deadly crane collapse.

2:20 Fatal Crane Collapse in Kelowna

The main problem is the refrigerated or frozen food that was left behind and is now rotting after days without power.

So on Thursday, as residents drifted in, fridges were dollied out by a restoration company.

According to Steffan, the majority of fridges and freezers are biohazards and have to be removed and taken to the dump.

2:21 Four construction workers along with one nearby office worker killed when a crane collapses in downtown Kelowna

Now, however, that raises questions for returning residents as to how they’ll cope without a fridge in the short term.

Still, most of the building’s occupants, many of them seniors, are thankful to be returning home.

“Yes, I would like to sleep in my own bed,” Ellen Elhers said.

But amidst the uncertainty of what may await residents, Carmel Court’s Carl Norem put returning home and possibly losing a fridge into a bigger and sobering perspective.

2:49 Vigil held for Kelowna crane collapse victims

“I’m not anxious, I’m not upset,” Norem told Global News.

“People died here. This is a minor incident in our lives compared to what’s happened here.”

And everyone returning home to Carmel Court seemed to understand that completely.