Year In Review: looking back at the fatal Econo Lodge fire

While the coronavirus pandemic is by far the biggest story worldwide in 2020, the fatal Econo Lodge Fire took the top spot here in Prince George.

As a year-in-review, MyPGNow.com has assembled all of its material from the incident in chronological order.

The Initial Call

Just before 9 am on July 8th, Prince George Fire Crews as well the RCMP attended what was considered at the time a rude awakening for guests staying at the Econo Lodge motel.

When addressing the media for the first time on this file, Cpl. Craig Douglass stated the fire was “suspicious” even in its early stages.

Even though the cause of the blaze was anything but concrete, at the time, a number of people who were staying at the motel hinted the fire alarms were not operable.

“We were able to get out through the stairwell, but it was black – you could hardly see anything. It was hard [to breath]. It was really hard, I have asthma,” said Hannah Roberts, one of the evacuees.

“We heard some kids screaming before we opened the door, but there were no fire alarms going off – nothing,” she continued.

“I jumped off the balcony, held onto the edge, and kinda looked down and did a tuck and roll,” noted Hazleton resident, Cody Walker who was visiting the city at the time of the fire.

Several hours later, the PG RCMP issued an updated media release on the suspicious blaze noting that three people had passed away and were found inside at 12:30 pm that afternoon – a mere three and a half hours after the inferno began.

Investigators do more digging

Less than 24 hours later (July 9th), local police submitted a plea to the public to make contact with anyone who may have been in possession of video or still images within a two-block radius of the motel between 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM from the day of the fire.

Dashcam video while driving by, cell phone images, or security surveillance images, were encouraged.

Douglass told MyPGNow.com this was a unique request.

“We have had many successes here and abroad, but probably the most famous one here in BC was the investigation into the riots in Vancouver that occurred where thousands of people distributed and submitted video that led to many convictions.”

The BC Coroners Service also announced that it would conduct a separate investigation to determine who died, how, where, when, and by what means they came to their unexpected deaths.
Due to the privacy of the deceased, the identity of the victims was not provided.

Lucky to be alive

In the days following, more and more people began to speak out about their experience during the early stages of the blaze.

Cheyenne Wingo and her boyfriend stayed at the Econo Lodge for four days with the goal of trying to secure a place in PG.

She considered themselves lucky to be alive after hearing crackling sounds like popcorn along with some screaming from nearby suites.

“My boyfriend started yelling at me to get up and quickly get dressed and to get out of there. I grabbed the first thing I saw, which was my dress, I also grabbed my purse, my Dad’s truck keys and we both ran to the door, picked up our sandals and ran out.”

To make matters more stressful, Wingo was 31 weeks pregnant at the time.

“That was my main concern was thinking about my baby and getting out of there right away. It’s not good to run when you are pregnant but I ran really fast and just the stress of it all ended up giving me small contractions.”

Both of them lost personal items including their TV, clothes, gaming system along with their daughter’s ultrasound pictures.

Arson

Less than a week after the initial call (July 14th), police in Prince George were of the opinion that the motel fire was deliberately set.

A few days earlier, the RCMP located and arrested a suspect as part of its investigation but was later released without charge pending further investigation.

Furthermore, the Serious Crimes Unit also opened a Criminal Negligence investigation after reports the fire alarm did not sound.

From there, police turned over the fire scene to the insurer.

X-Factor

Following the arson determination from police, MyPGNow obtained documents confirming the motel underwent a routine fire inspection two days prior to the blaze on July 6th.

An initial inspection took place on February 21st, where several concerns were brought to the attention of business owner, TJ Khatrao, who also owns the North Star Inn & Suites.

During the initial inspection, concerns were raised about the fire alarm system with a notation explaining the alarms must be tested and tagged annually.

Similar concerns were noted about portable extinguishers, emergency lighting, and the building’s fire safety plan.

“I can say that the BC Building Code and the City’s Fire Bylaw require regular testing of fire alarm systems, and so we inspect buildings – public buildings and hotels – based on that requirement,” said former Prince George Fire Department Deputy Chief Paul Knudsgaard.

“When a fire inspection is conducted, part of the inspection includes confirming documentation is attached to fire safety systems to confirm they were serviced,” added Knudsgaard.

Khatrao, the owner of the building, confirmed Allpoints Fire Protection Ltd. serviced the safety equipment but declined to comment further.

The subsequent report on July 6th found everything to be in working order.

“All items from the Feb 21 inspection checked and found to be in good order,” the report reads. “No violation or areas of concern noted.”

Police later confirmed they were aware of the inspection report.

Open for business

Yolks All Day Family Restaurant, which is adjacent to the motel reopened to the public for the first time on July 21st after being shut down for nearly two weeks due to the aftermath of the blaze.

Owner/Manager, Bronwyn Steward said reopening the facility was anything but pleasant.

“We weren’t allowed into the building for four days after because of the investigation going on and once we were allowed back in here, it just ranked of smoke so we had to get two cleaning companies in here for two weeks.”

Steward added they ran into some operational challenges before re-opening to customers.

“Our compressor in our walk-in cooler went down as the power bank shut off so that held us back for another two days but with a lot of work, we made it happen. We are here and open again.”

Earlier this month, Cpl. Douglass confirmed the investigation is still open and the detachment hopes to make further progress on the file in the New Year.

– with files from Catherine Garrett, Justin Madu, and Hartley Miller