Fire breaks out at abandoned apartment building in Kamloops, B.C., days after mayor warned of risks
Blaze happened less than a kilometre from mayor's car lot, a recent source of tension with fire chief
In the same week the mayor of Kamloops, B.C., warned about fire risks posed by derelict buildings, crews were called to an early-morning blaze at an abandoned apartment building in the city's west end.
Fire Chief Ken Uzeloc says the fire was reported at around 5 a.m. PT and appears to have started in the basement of the boarded-up building, which has been behind security fencing for over a year after being deemed unsafe for tenants.
The building is located on Seymour Street West, less than a kilometre from the used car lot owned by Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson that became a source of tension earlier this week — when the mayor defied orders to remove an SUV from the lot that Uzeloc had deemed a fire hazard.
Hamer-Jackson insisted he should not be required to move the burned-out vehicle because he was licensed to store wrecks on his lot.
But Uzeloc said it posed a danger because people were using it for shelter and at least two fires had been started in it. The SUV was towed on Thursday.
The mayor argued the focus should be on getting people off the street and cracking down on those who light fires.
"That vehicle is not the problem," he said in an interview Thursday. "I should be able to have many vehicles on my lot. I've had so many vehicles that have been stolen, vandalized, people breaking into vans and living in them. It's just not right."
Hamer-Jackson was elected in part by voicing frustrations many in the community feel around vandalism, petty crime and vagrancy, and says he wants to focus on tackling root causes.
He said removing vehicles from his lot was only a Band-Aid solution and with them gone, the fire problem would simply move elsewhere in the city — particularly to buildings.
"Do we not have a bylaw saying we shouldn't be setting fires in city limits?" he said. "That's a crime."
"I'm focused on the same thing: A safer community."
The cause of Friday morning's fire is under investigation.
With files from Marcella Bernardo and Doug Herbert