Verdict, recommendations expected next week at Winters Hotel fire inquest

A jury at the coroner’s inquest looking into the deadly Winters Hotel fire in Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood in April 2022 is pausing deliberations for the weekend.

Its members were charged Friday morning – but their deliberations will continue into next week as they look to find verdicts in the deaths of Mary Ann Garlow and Dennis Guay.

The jury is also tasked with coming up with recommendations to reduce the chances of something like this happening again in similar circumstances. As presiding coroner John Knox instructed, however, the jury is not able to make findings of legal responsibility.

Over the last two weeks, the jury has heard some difficult and concerning testimony and evidence.

That includes testimony that the sprinkler system was not working on the day of the deadly fire, because of a smaller fire a few days before.

The jury must deliver verdicts for each of Garlow and Guay’s deaths – in addition to providing recommendations.

Before sending them to deliberate, Knox reminded jurors about testimony from the fire and police departments that indicated the fire was an “unintended accident."

The Winters Hotel was one of approximately 150 single-room-occupancy buildings housing some of Vancouver's most vulnerable residents, who the jury heard are often on the verge of homelessness.

Jurors were told that a few recommendations targeting “broader failures of systems and standards” would be more effective than numerous recommendations addressing “unique circumstances.”

The bodies of Garlow, 63, and Guay, 53, were found during demolition of the hotel more than a week after the fire.

The jury saw video from inside the hotel during the fire, showing smoke filling the hallways and pieces of burning wood falling from above as tenants alerted each other to the danger.

The inquest heard that the old building did not have the kind of modern “compartmentalization” that would have slowed the spread of flames and smoke between rooms.

The building's fire safety company was scheduled to re-set the sprinkler system at 3 p.m. on the day of the fatal fire, but it broke out hours before they were due to arrive.

With files from The Canadian Press