FILE PHOTO
(MARSHALL JONES / iNFOnews.ca)
April 20, 2021 - 5:00 PM
The strange odour that led to the evacuation of about 150 people from the Lakeview Pointe apartment complex in West Kelowna on Sunday may have been human caused.
About 150 people, some with pets, were ordered out of the 60-unit apartment building on Sunday morning, April 18, because of the unidentified smell. West Kelowna Fire Rescue has since allowed the residents to return home.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we will continue to look at surveillance footage and things of that nature to see if we can figure out what exactly transpired,” Lauren Clemens general council and director of corporate affairs for owner Ironclad Developments, told iNFONews.ca today, April 20.
“It certainly seems like it was, perhaps, some form of intentional - or non-intentional - act of an individual.”
Experts brought in by the company have not been able to figure out what the odour is, or where it came from, but have determined the building is safe for people to move back in.
READ MORE: Residents allowed to return to smelly West Kelowna apartment building
“Nothing in the building – we’ve gone through everything – should be producing that type of odour. Clemens said. “It is a foreign odour that hasn’t been located. It’s definitely not coming from the building, we do know that.”
West Kelowna Fire Rescue fire chief Jason Brolund said when his crews were working on the site, they were able to ventilate the building and eliminate the odour, but after everything was closed up it would resurface in some other area.
Lakeview Pointe opened just a few months ago and is part of a four-building complex that will have 193 suites, Clemens said. This building had 60 suites.
Ironclad Developments is based in Winnipeg and has built two dozen other apartment complexes across the country over the past 20 years, according to its website.
It also has a project on Aurora Crescent in Kelowna along with Rockwood Landing and The Highland in Vernon.
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