East Vancouver apartment building to be demolished after latest fire

An apartment building in East Vancouver that caught fire this week for the third time since July 2023 will be demolished, according to city officials.

The latest blaze broke out at 414 East 10th Ave. around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, quickly spreading across the entire top floor of the three-storey structure and sending heavy black smoke billowing over the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.

"I got up and looked out the window and I just saw this huge plume of black smoke arising above what I guessed was the same building that had gone up a year or so ago,” said Lance Berelowitz, who lives nearby.

More than 40 firefighters responded, and were able to prevent the flames from spreading to any neighbouring properties.

"It quickly escalated into what we would call a second-alarm fire with multiple rigs on scene and close proximity to other buildings,” Vancouver Fire Chief Karen Fry said.

Each time firefighters hose the building down, the parkade fills up with toxic, murky water, which has twice seeped into the basement of a townhouse complex next door.

A resident of that building, who declined to provide her name, tells CTV News she has phoned the city and Vancouver police numerous times over the past year wondering why the building had not yet been knocked down.

Other neighbours called the most recent fire predictable.

"It's a wood building. It was open air after the fire. It was prone to whatever elements were being thrown at it,” said Stuart Farley, who lives down the street. “It looked like a disaster to look at, so it seemed like it was obviously a safety hazard."

Prior to Tuesday's fire, city officials said the condition of the building did not “meet the criteria to order it demolished in the interest of public safety.”

But on Wednesday, officials said Vancouver's chief building official had inspected the scene and determined that the structure would have to be demolished.

"We expect that work will proceed as soon as possible in the coming days," the City of Vancouver said in a news release.

The apartment building has been uninhabited since the last major fire, which erupted on July 26, 2023, and caused such extensive damage that all 70 tenants were displaced. 

Fencing was put up around the perimeter, but the Vancouver Fire Rescue Service responded to another, smaller fire the very next month after squatters had apparently made their way inside.

The cause of this week's fire remains under investigation, as crews were still extinguishing remaining hot spots as of Wednesday morning.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Lisa Steacy