Atira lawsuits link 2 Winters Hotel residents to fires, one of them fatal

Two former residents of the now-demolished Winters Hotel have been named in documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court as being allegedly wholly or partially responsible for the fires, one of which killed two people and destroyed the Gastown SRO three years ago.

Claims filed by Atira Development Society, Atira Women's Resource Society and Atira Property Management Inc., say the occupant of unit #222 of the Winters residence, "caused and/or contributed to the First Fire," while the occupant of unit #206 "caused and/or contributed to the Second Fire."

CBC is not identifying the two individuals named as defendants in the lawsuits.

Residents Mary Ann Garlow and Dennis Guay died in the second fire, which also destroyed the building. 

Atira leased the Winters Hotel from a private owner and ran it as supportive housing for approximately 70 people facing social and economic challenges.

Alongside B.C. Housing, the City of Vancouver and others, Atira is facing a number of lawsuits, including from the building owner and three businesses that operated on the ground floor.

Last year, a judge certified a class-action lawsuit for Winters Hotel residents and visitors.

The Atira claims say that if Atira entities are found liable for losses, damage or expenses, "the same was caused in whole or in part by the fault, acts, omissions, negligence, or breach of duty of care of the Defendants..."

"...[Atira] is entitled to contribution and indemnity from the Defendants to the extent of the degree to which the Defendants are found by the Court to have been at fault for any damages suffered," the claims read.

A fire that broke out in a Winters Hotel room on April 8, 2022, set off alarms and a sprinkler system that helped extinguish the flames.

However, three days later, when unattended burning candles caused a second fire to break out in a different room, the hotel's alarm and sprinklers did not activate because the system had not been reactivated after the earlier fire.

Without sprinklers, flames spread rapidly through the 115-year-old building. The bodies of Garlow and Guay were found in the rubble over a week later. 

No responses to the claims have been filed, and none of the allegations have been tested in court.