The Atira Women’s Resource Society, which manages the single-room housing (SRO) on the upper floors of the Winters Hotel, said officials hoped to confirm the location of the final tenant on Tuesday. “He is a tenant who is often missing, so we hope to locate this person today,” said Janice Abbott, CEO of Atira. More than 70 people lost their homes and belongings after a fire hit for hours a large part of a brick building on Abbott Street near Water Street. Abbott said some residents had lived in the building for more than 15 years. “People lost everything, obviously,” Abbott said. Five people were taken to hospital, two of them in serious condition and one in stable condition. One of the injured jumped out of a window to escape the blaze, firefighters said. Others were treated for minor injuries at the scene. CLOCKS Several injured after tear fire in Vancouver building:

Several people were rescued after a fire hit the Vancouver building

Officials say many people were rescued and taken to hospital after a severe fire hit a building in downtown Vancouver on Monday. The building houses many businesses and a one-room hotel on the upper floors. 2:16
The heritage building houses a number of businesses, including The Flying Pig Restaurant, Lemongrass House, Nika Design and the Australian Boot Company shoe store. Abbott said a fire broke out inside the room of an SRO resident in the building just last Friday, which turned on the sprinkler system. “He was related to the tenant,” Abbott told CBC’s The Early Edition on Tuesday. “Fires and floods are not very unusual in the building, given who we house.” Abbott said the building is inspected by the city and fire department several times a year. He said that, as far as he knows, the building was cleaned for the last time from violations after the last inspection around October. “This was a pretty quiet building and a building that was in pretty good condition, [but] “However, it was built in 1910 or earlier,” he said. Vancouver Fire Chief Karen Fry confirmed Monday that the building had recently been inspected and had a sprinkler system, but did not know if the sprinklers were working when the fire broke out. Firefighters are pictured outside the Winters Hotel on Tuesday in Vancouver’s Gastown area. More than 70 people lost their homes after a fire broke out in the building on Monday. (Ben Nelms / CBC)
By Monday night, part of the building’s roof had collapsed and fire crews were focused on preventing the fire from spreading to other buildings. Abbott said residents have been dispersed to various shelters across the city, including the Vancouver Japanese Language School, the Woodward Building and the Evelyn Saler Center. Atira is currently accepting donations for the displaced at 305 Main St. Abbott said the most urgent needs are clean socks and underwear. “We got a really amazing response from people yesterday when it came to clothing donations, but people will need almost everything for basic daily life in the near future,” he said. LISTEN Atira CEO Janice Abbott talks about Monday’s fire and the history of the building: The Early Edition5: 57Atira Women’s Resource Society on Winters residence fire Firefighters are returning to the scene after the fire in Gastown yesterday. The historic Winters apartment building caught fire late in the morning. Now, the fate of the building – and its former occupants – is unknown. For more, we are accompanied by Janice Abbott, CEO of Atira Property Management, who managed the housing of the building. 5:57