A site superintendent with Onni Group watches as New Westminster firefighters prepare to tackle a smokey blaze in the old Woodlands building on Columbia Street on Wednesday.
Fire damages heritage building
By Michael McQuillan - New Westminster News Leader
Published: July 04, 2008 4:00 PM
Updated: July 05, 2008 12:27 AM
A heritage building that is part of the former Woodlands school was damaged in a suspicious fire Wednesday afternoon.
A fire started in the vacant centre block building causing an estimated $100,000 in damage. The three-storey building was not under construction at the time.
Vagrants, who regularly break into the building, may have started the fire.
"The fire may have been used for cooking, heating or something else," said Brent Joel, a fire inspector with the New Westminster Fire and Rescue Services.
The building is owned by Onni Development, which is building the former Woodlands site, now known as Victoria Hill. Security has been an issue with the centre block and other heritage buildings on the site. Fencing and gates have not been able to stop people from getting into them.
On Wednesday fire crews found stolen copper wire in the building, while Onni crews have even found their own tools inside after they were stolen.
Security of the existing Woodlands has also been an issue for Victoria Hill residents.
"We've had teenagers going in there. There are squatters. It happens on a regular basis," said Robin Orr, who lives less than a block away in a two-year-old condominium.
"We're just very concerned this is going on. Recently the security problems have increased," he said.
The centre building and others were recently covered in graffiti. As well, residents have reported more individuals getting past the gates and into the vacant buildings.
Wednesday's fire was started around 1:30 p.m. in a cubicle-sized room on the second floor and climbed up the wall. Once the fire got inside the wall, it dropped down to the first floor. The floor joists between the two storeys was destroyed and sections of the floor will have to be torn down.
The centre building was the first to be built on the Woodlands site around 1878. Its original use was as the provincial "lunatic asylum" and it housed 36 patients. Over the years, various wings were added to accommodate a growing patient population.
Onni said it would originally maintain the facade of the designated heritage building while it built 120 housing units behind it. But the development company now estimates it would cost as much as $36 million to retain that portion of the building.
mmcquillan@newwestnewsleader.com
