Coquitlam tenants blocked from re-entering apartment following devastating fire

Residents displaced by a Coquitlam apartment fire earlier this month have been told they won’t be able to return to their homes.

"They basically told us they're going to demolish our place,” Zain Haishimi told CTV News Wednesday.

Haishimi lived in the building on 523 Gatensbury St. when part of the complex went up in flames on March 7.

The terrifying situation sent three people to hospital including a firefighter.

According to the City of Coquitlam, 24 units have been deemed unsafe by the building’s engineers and they now plan to tear it down.

Because of the safety concerns, tenants have been told they can’t re-enter before it’s demolished.

"I have my dads memento when I was six years old he passed away, I have his stuff inside, these are all the things, I only I have this stuff to remember him, and they're planning on demolishing this?” Haishimi said.

He was one of dozens of tenants who showed up at the complex Wednesday in hopes getting inside.

The group was blocked by security guards and RCMP officers.

“We’ve been told go speak to the fire department, but the fire department says go speak to the safety inspection but the safety inspection says go speak to the engineers, the engineers say go speak to the city hall, it’s just like a pin ball machine,” he said.

Residents are currently staying in a nearby hotel but those accommodations won’t be available come March 27.

"It's not a good time to be homeless right now, there's lots of problems in the city and this isn't good,” said Egene Tolander, another evacuee from the building.

Tolander says many tenants in the building do not speak proper English which has made communicating very difficult for families to be able to understand what is happening.

"People have urns of family (members) and people just have personal stuff and they just want their personal stuff," Tolander said.