Displaced tenants of a James Bay house that went up in flames after a barbecue caught fire last weekend were allowed back in their suites Friday to retrieve their belongings.
Mari Jagt and roommates fared better than others in the house due to their distance from the origin of the fire and because they closed the door behind them before leaving the suite. The roommates didn’t have tenant insurance.
“It’s now about being alive and being safe and keeping our cat safe and starting to rebuild,” they said.
On top of the three days of a hotel stay provided by emergency services, the roommates were given three additional days in a hotel and essentials funded by the Red Cross. “They have been phenomenal,” Jagt said.
A friend also made a “very generous offer” to pay for the roommates’ hotel stay until July 1 when they will move into a new rental.
Music teacher Jaime Kozak’s belongings in an attic suffered the worst smoke and water damage and she is not allowed to re-enter her suite until internal stairs of the home are rebuilt or reinforced. Kozak lost one of two cats and five pet rats in the fire, as well as musical instruments.
She has been looking for a new home with her mother, who came over from Vancouver.
A family of three — real estate agent Philippe Jolicoeur, Francini Vargas and her 18-year-old daughter Kayra — lived in the suite above the barbecue where the fire started. Jolicoeur was cooking steaks when the barbecue went up in flames.
The family’s suite and car were heavily damaged. All of the family’s pets, two dogs and a cat, were rescued.
Victoria Fire Chief Dan Atkinson said the origin of the fire was the barbecue — there were several explosions followed by flames that quickly licked up the wood-sided house — but fire inspectors were unable to detect the specific cause.
“What we’re not able to determine is if that was a result of a mechanical failure or an engineering failure as a result of the appliance, or if it was due to other factors like poor maintenance, lack of cleaning things, or things of that nature,” said Atkinson. In that case the cause is classified as undetermined.
The fire chief said barbecues are extremely safe and the risk of failures is “very low” but they do require regular maintenance and regular cleaning.
Jagt and Kozak said the placement of the barbecue tucked against the wood-frame home and under a second floor overhang was problematic and the fire was “preventable.”
Atkinson said the house was turned back to the owner and it’s in the hands of insurance adjusters.
While there was a loss of some pets, several were also saved. Witnesses reported seeing firefighters entering the smoke-filled house to find pets.
“It was a stubborn fire and we worked very, very hard,” said Atkinson
“When we recognize that there’s a life to be saved, whether that be a pet or an individual, and certainly an opportunity to provide some additional comfort to the people that are impacted by these terrible events, we rise up to the occasion and we take advantage of those opportunities,” said Atkinson.
Owner Brian Rados said he’s still working with the insurance adjuster, and a structural engineer will be brought in to assess whether the house can be salvaged. “It’s a little ways away yet from making serious decisions,” said Rados. He said all the tenants have been seriously affected by the fire and his thoughts are with them.
Rados, who lost his wife to cancer a few years ago, said he’s grateful no human lives were lost, and from that perspective he’s treating the loss of his house more as an inconvenience.
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