New housing arranged for 35 displaced by fire at townhouses
The community is rallying to help tenants of a Hillside Avenue townhouse complex damaged by fire early Friday.
Residents of Evergreen Terrace are being provided with temporary lodging, food vouchers and support from several community groups.
B.C. Housing, which owns and operates the subsidized building, has arranged for new, permanent accommodation for all displaced residents, the City of Victoria said in a statement.
The units are expected to be available within the week.
The 35 displaced people will stay at the Sandman Hotel on Douglas Street until Thursday, said Tanya Patterson, the city’s emergency program co-ordinator.
Emergency Management B.C. typically provides temporary lodging for 72 hours, but is giving those affected an extra three days to make sure sufficient housing is available, Patterson said.
In collaboration with community partners, Victoria Fire Department’s volunteer-driven emergency social services division is providing victims with vouchers for food, shelter, clothing and incidentals.
Participating organizations include the Mustard Seed, Salvation Army, Knights of Columbus, the Victoria Firefighters Charitable Foundation and church groups.
The Quadra Village Community Centre, which is across the street from the housing complex, is also accepting donations to help support fire victims.
When Victoria firefighters arrived at the complex about 3 a.m. Friday, flames had already ripped through a suite at 829 Hillside Ave., shot through the roof and spread to two neighbouring units.
All occupants got out of the building safely, including a woman who had to leap from a second-storey window.
The fire caused an estimated $1-million in damage to the 10-unit complex for families and seniors. The townhouses are part of a larger complex of 183 subsidized units.
Deputy Fire Chief Daniel Atkinson said three suites were heavily damaged by fire and will require extensive repairs, while four additional suites have varying levels of smoke and water damage.
The preliminary investigation is ongoing, he said.
“Given the structural integrity of the unit of origin, we’re unable to access the suite at this time,” Atkinson said.
“We have to wait for determination from a structural engineer before we can send our investigators in to do a more thorough investigation.”
According to B.C. Housing, the building’s smoke detectors were inspected last month, and other safety equipment was tested 10 days before the fire. “To the best of our knowledge, all of the fire safety equipment was operational,” a spokesperson said.
The building did not have sprinklers, which were not a requirement when it was built in the 1970s.