Fire-ravaged East Vancouver apartment building demolished

A Vancouver apartment building that has been ravaged by a series of fires over the last couple of years is now finally coming down.

The abandoned building at 414 East 10th Ave. most recently caught fire last week – after a larger blaze initially displaced 70 people in July of last year.

CTV News spoke with some people who used to live in the building, who spoke of a lack of maintenance, claiming the owner neglected the basics – even using tape to fix leaky plumbing.

“Happy that the damn thing is going down, why wouldn’t I be?” Harvey Tyndall, a former tenant told CTV News as he watched the building come down, before giving his assessment of the building’s owner.

“The guy was an idiot. He’s a jerk and a slumlord.”

There have been at least two other fires at the vacant building since last year's, including the large one earlier this month that prompted the demolition.

“Following the fire on last Tuesday evening, I made the determination that the building represented an unsafe condition,” Saul Schwebs, the City of Vancouver’s chief building official said during a news conference on Friday as the demolition work began behind him.

“So we are in the process of taking immediate corrective measures as permitted the Vancouver building bylaw.”

The owner Fu De Ren pleaded guilty to 20 bylaw violations related to the building earlier this year – and agreed to pay $4,500 in fines.

CTV News reached Ren by phone on Friday, but when a reporter tried asking questions – including about his plans for the future of the site – he said he had a hearing problem.

The city says the demolition will cost $1.2 million, and the bill will go to Ren.

Schwebs told reporters he’s confident the city can recoup the costs through property taxes if Ren doesn’t pay up directly – but he acknowledged communication with the owner has been difficult.

The cause of the most recent fire is still under investigation, but the city and fire department have said squatters had been in and out of the building in recent months.