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WEDNESDAY, FEB. 18, 2015 Your community. Your stories
TRI-CITY
NEWS
COQUITLAM APARTMENT FIRE
Apartment blaze displaces 100 Coq. firefighters worked all night to contain blaze off Glen Drive GAry McKennA
The Tri-CiTy News.
More than a hundred people are homeless after a fire tore through a Coquitlam apartment building Monday and the city expects the residents could be displaced for several months. Fire Chief Wade Pierlot said yesterday investigators are combing through the debris in order to determine the cause of the fire, which is believed to have originated outside one of the second floor units. Once crews have completed their investigation, and if it’s determined the building is structurally sound, the property would be turned over to the manager and some residents’ belongings could be retrieved. But due to the fact that the doors to each of the 72 units in the building were knocked down by firefighters battling the blaze, there were security issues with allowing unescorted trips into the structure, Pierlot said. “It could take a day or so,” he said. “Once we get in there, I am confident that within a day or so, we can turn it over to the property manager.” Crews got the call at around 4 p.m. Monday and Pierlot said he was in a closed council meeting when he was notified. He walked outside city hall and could see the plume of smoke rising up into the sky. The fire is believed to have originated on the outside of the building before rising into the crawl-space sized gap between the topfloor units and the roof, he said. see ‘I SMELLED’, page A6
didipro media photo
Coquitlam firefighters worked through the night Monday to douse a blaze that consumed a large part of an apartment complex on Glen Drive. More than 100 residents are currently out of their apartments and emergency social services is working to find those who won’t be able to return home temporary accommodations.
EVERGREEN LINE
Planning for walk 2Talk this sunday is in the pink as organizers and students prepare for the annual event: page A3
After 25 years, an extra 2 months for skyTrain
Problems around tunnel machine are behind delay DiAne StrAnDberG The Tri-CiTy News
The opening of the longawaited Evergreen Line has been postponed by several months, with the
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system now expected to be running in the fall of 2016 instead of the summer. The delays are attributed to problems preparing the tunnel-boring machine for maintenance, according to project manager Amanda Farrell, who said the chamber around the cutting tools had to be reinforced to allow the workers to get in safely to do the repairs.
Alice — the name the tunnel boring machine was given — has been virtually stalled under Cecile Drive because dirt entered the air pocket where the workers were supposed to change the tools. “Because some of the ground would fall into the chamber, that resulted in a sinkhole,” Farrell said. “They had to do various op-
erations to make it safe.” Boring has now resumed on the tunnel, she added, but noted that the extra work has resulted in a new construction schedule and a delay to the opening date. Farrell said she informed the mayors of Port Moody and Coquitlam about the changed schedule.
see ‘WE WANT’, page A3
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