Warnings sounded months before blaze
Inspectors and tenants lodged complaints about fire hazards at Rockland Manor boarding house
Authorities and tenants of a Victoria boarding home destroyed by fire in June had complained about fire hazards, broken windows and bedbugs, documents show.
The June 25 blaze displaced 18 residents in the 20-unit Rockland Manor.
Paul Noseworthy wrote to property manager Randall North Real Estate Services last October complaining that a “heavily medicated” tenant had twice unknowingly left plastic containers on a hot stove burner.
“Both times this created thick, acrid smoke that filled his unit from the ceiling to waist-height,” wrote Noseworthy, who lived in a neighbouring basement suite. “I hate to think what would have happened if I was not there to raise the alarm.”
Afraid for his life — Noseworthy uses a cane when he walks — but not wanting to have someone with mental-health issues evicted, Noseworthy suggested moving the tenant upstairs.
The reasoning, according to Noseworthy’s sister Meg Macmillan, was that on the second floor — where there are more tenants — a fire would be more easily detected and extinguished. The tenant was moved upstairs.
Noseworthy’s complaint was just one of many lodged about the boarding house by tenants and service providers during the year before the fire.
On the day of the fire, Dale Schuss, president of Randall North Real Estate Services, which managed the building, said “the ten- ants were very hard on the house” but there had been several renovations and upgrades and that the owners were a very compassionate group. He was not available for further comment this week.
That was not the consensus of long-term residents, who said the building had become rundown and that too many high-risk tenants with mental-health issues and addictions and in need of supervision were being allowed to rent.
An inspection — one of many — was held after ten- ants complained in October 2012 about wires shorting out, rats, mice and bedbugs. The problem was so bad that at least one tenant camped in the backyard.
A report made by fire and electrical officials on Nov. 22, 2012, obtained under the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act, said: “Suite #14 — smoke alarm not connected; #11 — no smoke alarm; #3 — no batteries in smoke alarm; exposed wire in ceiling light upstairs hall, also exposed electrical socket in hall.”
The email also said the building was two suites above the occupancy limit.
In December 2012, there were complaints about a fourth-floor window “broken for about two months.”
In January, a bylaw officer noted in an email: “the property is in transition to becoming social housing.”
Tenant Zednek Martinovsky said he had complained to management that some of the mental-health and addictions clients fell asleep smoking after having swallowed “blister packs of pills” provided to them by health-care work- ers. He said he saw it happen just days before the blaze.
Fire inspectors could not officially determine the source of the fire, but fire inspector Chris Kelly said it was likely caused by discarded smoking material.
VIHA staff stated they had concerns about Rockland Manor but they weren’t critical enough to constitute an environmental health hazard — the only condition under which the health authority could intervene under the Health Act, said VIHA spokeswoman Suzanne Germain.
“We gather the conditions of the building continued to deteriorate,” Germain said.
As a result, a complaint was made by a Vancouver Island Community Outreach Team police officer. An inspection by RESPOND — a multi-agency team including a bylaw officer, fire, building, plumbing and electrical inspectors, a VIHA environmental health officer and representatives from social services, housing and animal control — was requested.
That inspection was scheduled the day of the fire.
VIHA said it tried to find a balance at Rockland Manor.
“While we were not pleased with the condition of the building, it did provide housing for a high-risk, very marginalized population who would likely be homeless or in shelters if it was not for the availability of Rockland Manor,” Germain said.
Nine displaced residents were sent to the Salvation Army after the blaze. One has found permanent housing, while five remain at the Salvation Army where they can stay up to two years, and three are in other treatment facilities.
VIHA is working with its clients to find them appropriate housing, said health authority spokeswoman Sarah Plank.
According to B.C. Assessment, the building is owned by RTR Properties Ltd. B.C. Registry Services records show the principals of that company are doctors Robert A. Koopmans, Todd Jones and Brad Halkier. They could not be reached for comment.