Water issue forces Kelowna senior care home to be partially evacuated, restoration issues ‘rampant’

On Monday night, a senior care home in Kelowna had to evacuate residents and staff because of a major failure within the sprinkler system.

Brandt’s Creek Mews, in Glenmore, had to evacuate two areas of its facility.

AgeCare operates the home and has not responded to repeated requests for an interview, but sent a letter to families of residents.

“No residents or staff were injured and all nearby residents were quickly evacuated  to a safe area,” the letter reads.

Some residents had to share a room overnight, according to a source.

Hydraclean Disaster Restoration was cleaning up the care home on Tuesday.

The company said restoration issues are rampant across the region.

“It’s causing major damage for a lot of different people everywhere,” said Mark Harding, hydraclean Disaster Restorations’ general manager.

“(Our company is receiving) probably 20 to 30 times the normal call volume we normally get. We just have to be ready to respond and help as many people as we can day or night,” said Harding.

Many of Hydraclean Disaster Restoration’s workers were forced to work through the holidays.

“We are strictly focusing on emergency work. All of our repair crews are helping on the emergencies, we just have to keep going until it’s (all fixed),” Harding told Global News on Tuesday.

“A lot of our guys are sleeping only a little bit, not a whole lot. Many of them had to work Christmas and New Year’s. Whatever we have to do to get these families back home.”

Warmer weather is on its way, albeit still well below zero, but Harding hopes that will give his restoration company some reprieve.

As for when residents get to move back home, there’s no word yet from AgeCare.

However, the operator wrote in its letter that its priority is to ensure that the affected area is safe before they move residents back into their rooms.

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