Squatters allegedly caused second fire in Vancouver apartment building

For the second time in as many months, a fire broke out in an East Vancouver apartment building on Wednesday.

According to the Vancouver Fire Department, the fire broke out at 414 East 10th Ave. around 8:30 a.m.

According to the department, the fire was quickly extinguished and no one was injured, a much less serious event than the fire that tore through the same building in late July, leaving 70 people homeless.

However, there are concerns about how it started. Fire Chief Karen Fry said they believe it was started by people squatting there illegally.

“This property must be secured against unauthorized access and must not be accessible to outsiders or people living or squatting there,” she told CTV News.

That discovery led to frustration among people like Taylor Calhoun, who was among the 70 people forced to flee in July.

She now lives around the corner and says she has been seeing suspicious activity for a while.

“When we walk by at night, we see people coming in and out. There is virtually no security,” she said.

“In terms of protecting the surrounding buildings and people, I think the safety of the building itself should not be so much a concern, but that of the people around it,” she continued.

In a statement to CTV News, a city spokesperson said Vancouver “continues to support tenants affected by the fire in July, but there are currently no patrols in the building.”

“The building owner is responsible for security. The city stepped in to provide some assistance in putting initial security protocols in place after the first fire, as the owners failed to do so. However, the responsibility lies entirely with the building owner,” the spokesperson added.

CTV News reached one of the owners, Fu Ren, who also goes by Henry, by phone on Wednesday.

He told us that he didn’t feel it was his responsibility to ensure safety.

Ren and his co-owner Feng Yan are being sued by the city, which alleges they violated as many as 20 different fire safety regulations last year.

These allegations have not been proven in court.