Workers were due at the Coachman Apartments on Sparks St. on the Bench earlier this week to block access to the three-storey structure following an order issued Jan. 28 by City of Terrace fire chief Chad Cooper to have any remaining occupants leave the building due to a long list of safety and other violations.
As of mid-June 2023, when B.C. Housing stopped paying for local hotel rooms, one tenant refused to leave and one who had left then returned. It wasn’t until July 2023 that an executor to the deceased owner’s estate, described as substantial, was appointed and that person didn’t come to Terrace to tour the building until August.
A copy of a Jan. 29 letter from Cooper to a Mr. Brown outlines 10 identified violations beginning with non-functional smoke alarms, non-working fire alarms, damage to fire separations, missing or uncertified portable fire exitinguishers, open doors allowing unauthorized entry, damaged and poorly maintained exit doors, missing fire door signs, untested emergency lighting, accumulated combustible material and damaged electrical installations posing as a fire hazard.
Leading up to the frozen water pipes in late December 2022, the city said the building was inspected annually.