Victims of downtown Vancouver fire delay demolition process
CTV
The former residents of a low-income housing building destroyed in a fire delayed its demolition by trying to get in to pick up what's left of their belongings.
It's been a challenging week and a half for displaced residents of the single-room-occupancy Winters Hotel in downtown Vancouver.
Many who called 203 Abbott St. home say they feel distressed, having been stripped from their homes and their personal belongings
Some were so desperate to access the building on Wednesday morning, they pushed through the barricade and climbed inside the hotel before being kicked out by police.
The area is currently closed off as crews prepare to tear down the building, but the interruptions of former residents have slightly delayed the demolition process, which was initially scheduled to begin early Wednesday.
Former resident Brendy Mingo shed tears at the site, demanding to gather her belongings, but she was quickly stopped by police who said it's too dangerous for anyone to enter.
"All I had left were those bins. All I had left were my pictures and my memories, right? Now I'm going to lose it to a fire, but not even to a fire because my stuff is not burned," she said, adding that she lives on the first residential floor, where damage was minimal.
"We've just got to watch our stuff here get smashed into pieces and get thrown in the dumpster. It's not right. Not fair," she continued.
