Debris falls to the ground as demolition resumes on the Winters Hotel after a body was found in the single room occupancy (SRO) building, in Vancouver, B.C., Friday, April 22, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

BURNABY, B.C. - A Vancouver fire captain says he left with "a bad feeling" after responding to a small fire at a downtown rooming hotel just three days before a catastrophic blaze killed two people and burned the building down to its brick exterior almost two years ago.

The sprinkler system was running, but Capt. Kris Zoppa said he was bothered by the fact he didn't hear the fire alarm when he arrived at the Winters Hotel for the first fire on April 8, 2022.

The second fire on April 11 killed Mary Ann Garlow, 63, and Dennis Guay, 53.

Garlow and Guay's remains were found in the rubble of the building during demolition work more than a week after the fatal blaze.

Zoppa told a British Columbia coroner's inquest into their deaths that activation of the sprinkler system for the earlier fire should have triggered the fire alarm, but he agreed with a lawyer for the inquest that it's "likely" it didn't go off at all.

He testified that he gave the building manager from Atira Property Management a violation notice with instructions to ensure both systems would be quickly restored.

The notice also included a direction to start a "fire watch" until those systems were up and running, as well as a phone number to call for a re-inspection, he said.

However, Zoppa acknowledged the document did not provide additional details on what exactly the fire watch should entail, and told the inquest he couldn't recall the specifics of his conversation with the manager, Gina Vanemberg.

"I had a bad feeling about that building," he said of leaving the Winters Hotel on April 8, which marked his last shift for the next four days.

It's typical for each shift of firefighters to handle their own followup on any violation notices unless a building operator calls in to request a re-inspection, he said.

The April 8 fire had started in a unit that was packed with "hoarding materials," he said, adding the smoke alarm had been removed from the room.

Zoppa testified that the sprinkler system would have been turned off after that smaller fire because leaving it running could have resulted in flooding.

A former resident of the hotel, Franco Maselli, testified later Tuesday that he noticed flooding in the hallways when he returned home after the April 8 fire.

Maselli told the inquest that he moved into the Winters Hotel in 2018. Atira staff did not provide any information regarding fire safety when he arrived and he never participated in any fire drills during his time living in the building, he said.

Maselli said he was never informed that the building was under "fire watch" or that the sprinkler system had been turned off after the smaller fire.

The hotel with more than 70 residents was riddled with mice and cockroaches, and debris filled the hallways, sometimes blocking doorways, he said.

"There was no single day that I didn't see any blockage," he said of the hallways.

Maselli said the building manager — the same person Zoppa said he spoke with — threatened him with eviction after he told her he had complained to the City of Vancouver about how Atira staff were handling residents' concerns.

Nearly 30 witnesses are scheduled to testify at the inquest, which is not intended to find fault but can lead to recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.

The building manager, Vanemberg, is set to testify on Thursday.

The fire department has said the fatal fire was sparked inadvertently by unattended candles.

— By Brenna Owen in Vancouver

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 23, 2024.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2024