Close X
Thursday, September 19, 2024
ADVT 
National

Winters Hotel fire: B.C. inquest told of chained door, 'no way out' from deadly blaze

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 22 Jan, 2024 05:08 PM
  • Winters Hotel fire: B.C. inquest told of chained door, 'no way out' from deadly blaze

A coroner's inquest has been told that a Vancouver rooming house where a fire killed two people in 2022 had a chained door, as relatives testified about the devastating impact of the blaze.

The inquest into the deaths of Mary Ann Garlow and Dennis Guay began Monday with family members describing their loss in the fire that gutted the Winters Hotel in Vancouver. 

Garlow's niece, Misty Fredericks, told the inquest jury that her aunt's son John lived in the same building and jumped out of his third-storey room to escape the fire, shattering both legs.

"Mary was his caregiver, always looking out for his well-being, ensuring he was safe and fed. The love for her son is what saved John's life. It was Mary who made the ultimate motherly sacrifice by making sure her son jumped out the window before the last moments of her life," Fredericks said.

She said it would be too difficult for John to testify but he wanted the jury to know about his love for his mom, and that there were "chains on the door, the sprinklers didn't work and there was no way out."

She said people who knew Garlow said she loved the community that she found in the city's Downtown Eastside and that some people referred to her as their "street mom."

A statement from Guay's family read to the jury described his love of chess and backgammon and said his death left a "massive void."

The bodies of Garlow and Guay were found during demolition on the shell of the building more than a week after the fire in April 2022. Experts told the inquest that DNA from family members was used to confirm the identity of the victims.

The property manager originally said it was believed all residents had escaped.

Fredericks testified she was told her aunt's friends were concerned that she hadn't been seen, and missing person posters were created.

"(A friend) was at the site protesting and trying to stop demolition of the structural remains of the hotel. She had put some type of banner on the protective fencing and was yelling towards the machine operator to, 'Stop, she's in there,'" she said.

"Anybody who knew Mary and John would tell you that if Mary was in fact still alive, she absolutely would have made her way to her son's bedside at the hospital." 

The jury heard that Guay had severe hearing loss since childhood and wore hearing aids and read lips to communicate.

A psychiatrist testified that Guay had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was stable and in good spirits at his last appointment days before the fire.

His family's statement said Guay loved music and spent years working in various local government positions in northern B.C.

"The grieving process for Dennis's family has been extremely hard, and his death has left a massive void," the family's lawyer, Rebecca Coad, read from the statement.

"A piece of the puzzle is missing and cannot be fixed. Life is taken day by day with the hope that one day they will come to terms with it."

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

MORE National ARTICLES

Driver hurt after car plunges from multi-storey parking lot at UBC

Driver hurt after car plunges from multi-storey parking lot at UBC
A driver has been rescued after their car plunged through a concrete wall in a multi-storey parking lot at the University of British Columbia. Matthew Trudeau with the Vancouver Fire Rescue Service says 10 emergency vehicles responded to a call to the campus around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Driver hurt after car plunges from multi-storey parking lot at UBC

Immigration department says 144 Gazans on track to come to Canada, pending biometrics

Immigration department says 144 Gazans on track to come to Canada, pending biometrics
Ottawa has processed visa applications for 144 people in the Gaza Strip, putting them on track to be reunited with extended family members in Canada — as long as they can make it across the border for biometric screening and final approval.  Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada opened a program to offer temporary visas to as many as 1,000 people in the besieged Palestinian territory, if their relatives can support them in Canada. 

Immigration department says 144 Gazans on track to come to Canada, pending biometrics

Federal dental care program will exclude 4.4M uninsured Canadians: report

Federal dental care program will exclude 4.4M uninsured Canadians: report
A new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says millions of uninsured Canadians will be left out of the new federal dental program because their family income is too high. Enrolment began last month for a new federal benefits program, which was developed as a condition of a political pact between the Liberal government and the NDP.    

Federal dental care program will exclude 4.4M uninsured Canadians: report

Trudeau defends Jamaica trip as committee agrees to seek ethics watchdog's testimony

Trudeau defends Jamaica trip as committee agrees to seek ethics watchdog's testimony
Members of Parliament on the Commons ethics committee agreed to invite interim commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein to testify at the earliest opportunity once the House comes back from a winter break at the end of the month. 

Trudeau defends Jamaica trip as committee agrees to seek ethics watchdog's testimony

Man arrested and charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle

Man arrested and charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle
A man has been arrested and charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle after driving through a police traffic stop in Surrey. Surrey R-C-M-P say they responded on January 3rd to reports of a suspected impaired driver near the 13-thousand-900 block of Fraser Highway.    

Man arrested and charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle

Arrest in violent Vancouver robbery

Arrest in violent Vancouver robbery
Vancouver police have arrested a man suspected of a violent robbery after he threatened to jump into False Creek. Police say officers were called to a business near West 3rd Avenue and Fir Street at around 10:30 yesterday morning for a suspect armed with bear spray and a samurai sword.    

Arrest in violent Vancouver robbery