A Victoria tenant continues to fear for the safety of those in her multi-unit building as a fire escape hasn’t been fully repaired for months.
The unresolved issue comes as council decided in the spring that the issue didn’t warrant the city taking over the construction to ensure an up-to-code escape would be built. When Black Press Media visited the Cook Street site in early June, gaps could be seen where the wood boards of the fire escape were pulling away from each other.
Kristianne Stone, a tenant of the building, said the fire escape’s condition has only gotten worse as more than a month has passed since it was supposed to be fixed.
“If we have a fire, how do we get out,” Stone said in an early June interview at her home. “We want to be safe, we want to be healthy, we want to have a good place to live.”
Council in May decided to grant the building’s owner more time to complete the work, giving him until June 26 to have a safe fire escape in place. Before that decision, city staff said it would likely take the same amount of time to complete the work whether the landlord carried on or the city took over, but Victoria taking responsibility would ensure the construction is up to code.
The building was inspected 75 times in the five years leading up to council’s May decision and had failed to be completely satisfactory in any of those visits, with the city commonly finding the building’s fire protection systems deficient.
A City of Victoria spokesperson said some work has been done to the fire escape and it’s now usable “in the event of an emergency.” However, it still needs further upgrades to fully comply with safety standards, the city said.
“We are asking that the city do as they said they would when council heard this matter four months ago,” Stone wrote in a letter to the city this month. “We are asking that the city take this matter seriously because it involves the lives of those of us here who live in a high-risk building where our safety is at risk.”
“To this very moment of me typing this to you, we still have no safe fire escape.”
Black Press Media also asked the city why the issue hasn’t returned to the council table after the June 26 deadline was missed.
The Victoria spokesperson said the city is now taking corrective action after the deadline was missed and since the issue came before council in the spring, it didn’t need to go back for actions to move forward.
“This matter is a high priority for the city and we are actively pursuing a resolution.”
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