One man is in police custody after fire erupted in a boarded-up Cook Street apartment building on Thursday afternoon.
The first 911 calls came in at 11:48 a.m. with witnesses reporting smoke and flames coming from the building at 2321 Cook St., near Empress Avenue.
About two dozen Victoria firefighters spent hours dousing the flames shooting from the building’s attic.
Victoria firefighter Tim Loewen said one man was seen leaving the building just after the fire broke out. He was arrested by Victoria police on an outstanding warrant and is being questioned as a person of interest.
Police cordoned off the street as two ladder trucks shot water into the top windows and onto the roof.
Firefighters did an initial search to make sure no one was inside, Loewen said. He said firefighters had a tough time getting to the top floor of the building because of junk and debris. The home to the north of the building was evacuated because of heavy smoke.
Loewen said a structural engineer will have to inspect the building before fire inspectors can gain access to determine what caused the fire.
The building, which according to B.C. Assessment records is owned by Robin Kimpton, has not had tenants for 10 years.
Several area residents have complained of squatters crawling through fencing to enter the building.
The City of Victoria ordered Kimpton to board up the windows and erect a fence around the property in April 2013, said city spokeswoman Katie Hamilton, adding that it’s the owner’s responsibility to secure the building.
“We do receive queries and complaints from the neighbourhood in particular as issues arise on the property, and proactive patrols are completed by bylaw enforcement,” Hamilton said.
The city has cleaned up some of the graffiti and waste on the property and billed the owner.
A For Sale sign sits on the fence around the building. Graham Smith, a real estate agent who has previously tried to sell the property, said Kimpton owns two adjacent properties on Cook and Empress. Smith said any plans for redeveloping that corner have so far fallen through.
The three-storey walk-up apartment building sits on a 6,361-square-foot lot and went up in 1913, property assessment records show.
Its assessed value is $536,000 — the land is valued at $419,000 and the building at $117,000.
Kimpton owns several properties in Victoria and has battled city hall in the past. He ran unsuccessfully for city council in 2011.
In July last year, three of Kimpton’s properties, once part of the now-disbanded Traveller’s Inn chain, were put on the market under a court-ordered sale. A lender foreclosed on Kimpton.
NAI Commercial (Victoria) Inc. offered the properties — an apartment-hotel at 760 Queens St., an apartment at 723 Field St., and an adjacent parking lot at 715 Field St. — as a package for $5.99 million. The Field Street apartment was sold, said NAI real estate agent Tim Taylor. Kimpton was able to keep the other properties after he paid off his loans, Taylor said.
Kimpton did not return calls for comment on Thursday.
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