A bus formerly occupied by squatters is sparking some concern amongst Keremeos, B.C., residents.
The former squatters were shot by RCMP almost a year ago. A man died, a woman was seriously injured, and the bus was left abandoned.
“We look at something that could have been taken care of months and months ago because there was actually worth to the items,” said Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) Area G Director Tim Roberts.
“Right now, we’re left with a mess of vehicles and burned-out rubbish all throughout and stuff that has washed away in the river, that has no worth and it’s still here. This kind of highlights an overarching concern that we have in regards to endangerment.”
According to area residents, the bus had been an issue for two years prior to the police incident.
The woman has reportedly not returned to the site and it’s unknown if she is alive or remains in custody. RCMP declined to comment as the issue is still under investigation.
“Whoever’s got the authority or the ability to deal with this, deal with it and get this dealt with and get this bus out of here so we can all rest a little easier,” said Keremeos resident Lorne Briere.
Roberts says he has been in contact with the provincial government and RCMP.
Adding that there are a number of issues with the campsite, including environmental concerns, other squatters, and vigilantes.
“Once they left, we then ended up with problem bears breaking into the bus and we called the Natural Resource Department around our concerns about when it was going to be cleaned up. What things that we could do,” said Roberts.
“Our next concern was the winter — we’re starting to talk between the local First Nations, the residents that surround here. The bus was moved in at high water level and as we know with the change in temperature and the increase of high amounts of water coming down and freshet, we had a great concern that the bus would end up and all the items around it, would be flushed down into the river.”
Recently the bus was lit on fire, which Roberts says puts nearby residents at risk.
“It was brought to my attention by the RCMP that someone had tried to burn the bus down and by doing so as we’re coming into the warmer and drier season, this puts residents into danger at the neighbouring mobile home park because of the forest area around the bus,” said Roberts.
“We don’t have fire protection over here,” said Briere. “We have our own fire protection within our community, but that’s a real environmental hazard not only environmental, that’s a danger to the 133 residents that live here.”
The land, which is located along Highway 3, is owned by the Crown and crosses over several ministries, meaning enforcement becomes less frequent.
Roberts went on to say that communication between the ministries is lacking and it’s unclear who is responsible for cleaning up the site.
“We’re hoping that there seems to be a lot a stronger push towards having a solution based and a ministry similar to the Emergency Management Climate Readiness ministry as being an umbrella,” said Roberts.
“That way whenever we end up with these situations that could lead to either harm, loss of property or death, that we could end up having a way to mitigate and have all the ministries work together and break down the barriers and come up with solutions.”
Keremeos resident Briere, who lives in the adjacent mobile home park, says he’s voiced his concerns to a number of ministries and RCMP since the incident.
“Nobody has even given us the courtesy as residents and taxpayers in this province, courtesy of a call back, explanation, anything to do with this situation.”
Meanwhile there is no word as to when the bus could be removed from the area.
Global News did reach out to the Ministry of Forests for more information about who is responsible for monitoring the area, but we did not receive a response.
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