Investigation continues into Kelowna fire; neighbour says building was a ‘tinderbox’

A occurrence that sent a monolithic plume of achromatic fume into nan Central Okanagan entity remained nether investigation connected Tuesday.

The occurrence happened Monday successful Kelowna’s Lower Mission neighbourhood, arsenic an aged workplace building connected Casorso Road went up successful flames astir noon.

Fire investigators were backmost connected Tuesday, trying to find nan fire’s cause. The building had been repurposed, and featured plentifulness of debris.

The building was supposedly vacant for immoderate time, though constabulary told Global News that they’re trying to corroborate if squatters were connected residence, which neighbours believed to beryllium nan case.

At slightest 2 group were wrong nan building erstwhile it caught fire. One was a man who escaped pinch his canine by jumping from a second-storey window. The different was a female who besides escaped nan blaze, but not earlier suffering important injuries.

“At nan time, we didn’t cognize that it was an occupied residence, aliases a building that was occupied,” said occurrence main Larry Watkinson.

“We had reports from nan proprietor confirming that nary 1 was domiciled astatine that occupancy.”

One neighbour said nan occurrence didn’t travel arsenic a surprise. In fact, he said he had metropolis bylaw 2 weeks anterior to nan blaze, pinch officers visiting nan barn 1 week earlier it burned down.

“We spot transients astir nan building each nan time,” said Bob Anderson, who owns nan adjacent Kelowna Driving Range.

His business sustained from spot harm from nan fire, and while Anderson says he feels fortunate to person escaped awesome damage, he says nan occurrence was conscionable a matter of time, arsenic he called nan building “a tinderbox.”

“There was much and much aged tires being piled up by nan area of nan building,” said Anderson, noting “the full spot has conscionable been tally down.

Trending Now

“It’s an aged wood building that’s been abandoned for rather a while. And it conscionable a tinderbox and we knew that thing was going to hap eventually.”

The City of Kelowna confirmed that bylaw officers were connected tract connected Canada Day.

“We didn’t deliberation that 7 days later our worst fearfulness would happen,” said Anderson. “But clearly, our concerns were genuine.”

Anderson is now calling connected nan metropolis to cheque retired different abandoned buildings to trim nan chance that different properties could beryllium damaged by fire.

“This tin hap anywhere. And arsenic we person much and much transients getting into them, I deliberation nan metropolis needs to return a look astatine these aged buildings,” said Anderson.

“We sewage very fortunate pinch this one.”