Edmonton fire cracks down on abandoned buildings as councilors ask for aggressive action

The proposed problem properties strategy being presented to the community and public services committee comes after four homeless Edmontonians died in fire-related deaths last fall

Publishing date:

Apr 11, 2022 • 26 minutes ago • 4 minute read • Join the conversation

Edmonton Fire Rescue Services firefighters extinguish a fire in an abandoned building near 101 Street and 106 Avenue in Edmonton, on Sunday, April 10, 2022. A previous fire at the site destroyed the closed Mila Pub. Photo by Ian Kucerak /postmedia

Firefighters have started cracking down on derelict buildings at risk for fires as city councilors on Monday looked at taking more aggressive steps to tackle problem properties making neighbors feel unsafe.

A day after another abandoned home caught fire in central Edmonton, Edmonton Fire Rescue Services (EFRS) launched a new team Monday targeting abandoned buildings using a section of the fire code ordering vacant buildings be secured from intruders. If they don’t move quickly, the city will block off access nearly immediately and progressively scale up enforcement — from boarding up a property to adding fencing or security — all at the owner’s expense.

Coun. Ashley Salvador said council expects this team will move quickly, which will have a significant impact on neighbourhoods.

“It’s about expediency and accountability. The intention of this team is to ensure that unsecured properties are brought to compliance immediately … it’s a much more proactive approach,” she told media Monday.

While tracking Edmonton’s problem properties in recent years focused on unkept buildings or those that are magnets for crime, Salvador said abandoned buildings catching fire have become more intense in recent years, especially in the Alberta Avenue and Eastwood areas.

“Vacant and derelict properties are contributing to significant fire risk, crime, and unsafe conditions in our neighborhoods … This issue has reached a boiling point and I believe it’s time for council to use all the tools that we have in our toolbox to address it, ” she said. “(Fires were) an amplifying factor that really sped up that urgency for me and for the community that this had to be addressed right away.

“Hearing stories from community members where they’re not feeling safe in their own neighborhood … they’re really hard to hear, and that demands action.”

Discussing how to best ramp up enforcement of derelict and vacant buildings and properties, a council committee on Monday voted to increase funds for this EFRS program — the Community Property Safety Team — to $850,000 for a year and a half from the initially-proposed three- month-long pilot. Councilors will also look to spend $915,000 toward the city’s work on problem properties, and create a hub so different agencies involved will work together. Both would be funded with money clawed back from the previous police budget, pending full council approval.

Creating a tax subclass for derelict properties, a grant program to offset costs for repairs, and ways to increase demolition or taking over and putting properties up at a tax sale auction, are other options council will review at an upcoming meeting.

Edmonton Fire Rescue Services firefighters extinguish a fire in an abandoned building near 101 Street and 106 Avenue in Edmonton, on Sunday, April 10, 2022. A previous fire at the site destroyed the closed Mila Pub. Photo by Ian Kucerak /postmedia

weekend fire

On Sunday, fire crews battled a blaze at another abandoned building in central Edmonton near 105 Avenue and 101 Street next to the site of the former Milla Pub — a historic bar destroyed by flames in November 2021.

About six trucks and up to two dozen firefighters arrived within three minutes, according to EFRS communications advisor Brittany Eveneshen. It was declared out at 11:24 pm and no injuries were reported.

Four homeless Edmontonians died in fire-related deaths last fall. At the time, EFRS said it was working on a strategy to knock down the number of fires in vacant, unsecured, properties.

Last fall, EFRS reported a steady increase in fires in Edmonton’s northeast.

help needed

Lack of action on problem properties has left residents feeling unsafe and unheard, and facing crime and violence regularly in their neighbourhoods, multiple speakers told councilors on Monday. Several live in the Alberta Avenue neighborhood.

Some speakers, including Dough Piquette, said the community is traumatized.

Cora Shaw calls in complaints but she said help never comes. She’s afraid to be in her yard alone and some passersby have even threatened her dogs. “I’m asking for help today — we need it.”

“I am so tired of every summer, every weekend, shots fired, and we all get on our neighborhood (forum) and say, ‘Are we even going to call this one in?’ said Jane Samson.

Maggie Glasgow wondered if the city has been properly consulting people who actually live in Alberta Avenue. She wanted to know that residents’ voices are being heard and valued in decision-making. “We’re responding to opioid overdoses in our back alleys, mental-health crises, children running away from things happening in front of them, even just the decay we deal with on a daily basis.”

Speaking to media Monday afternoon, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said “slumlords” are putting communities at risk, and there should be zero tolerance for them.

“They’re exploiting vulnerable Edmontonians, and we need to get tough on these problem properties,” he said. “We want to get tough and we want to make sure we’re putting together a comprehensive plan within the authority of the city, as well as working with the provincial government.

“This is a safety issue. This is hurting our efforts to revitalize our neighbourhoods.”