Winters Hotel inquest: building manager speaks

The BC Coroners’ Service inquest looking into 2022’s deadly Winters Hotel Fire heard from the building’s manager Thursday.

Gina Vanemberg says staff at the rooming hotel needed better fire safety training, testifying that a “red book” with fire safety procedures was given to her when she became manager of the hotel in 2020, but nobody from her employer, Atira Property Management, went over the paperwork or confirmed that she read it.

One of two people who died in the tragedy, 53-year-old Dennis Guay, had severe hearing loss. Vanemberg testified that there weren’t any systems in place to ensure Guay would know when to evacuate in a fire.

She added officials with BC Housing never got back to her when she asked about getting modifications for Guay, such as a flashing light or a vibrating bed.

She also told the jury no fire drills were held during the two years she worked at the hotel because of rules against gathering due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The heritage building in Gastown, which was over 100 years old, was operating as an 89-room single-room occupancy (SRO) hotel for long-term tenants, when it was destroyed by a fire caused by unattended candles on Apr. 11, 2022.

Crews working to demolish the building discovered the bodies of Guay and 68-year-old Mary Ann Garlow inside the building days later.

It was determined by a preliminary investigation in 2022 that the sprinkler system at the Winters Hotel had been turned off days before the fire rendered the entire building unsafe and set for demolition. That was done after another fire just days prior, on April 8, 2022.

Following the fire, 71 people who lived in the building were displaced.

The province ordered the inquest to fully determine exactly how Guay and Garlow died, and then to make recommendations that could prevent similar tragedies in the future.

The inquest is scheduled to last for two weeks.

With files from The Canadian Press, Cole Schisler, and Hana Mae Nassar.