Media wait outside the British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver in 2015. A BC Supreme Court judge ruled that Angela Chow created a risk of injury and fire by keeping her apartment “in a state of near hoarding” with tightly packed items , covering most of the floor space. DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Two Vancouver tenants have been ordered to pay more than $500,000 after a November 2017 apartment fire that a judge called “foreseeable.”
British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Matthew Kirchner ruled that Angela Chow created a risk of injury and fire by keeping her apartment “in a state of near hoarding” with densely packed items covering most of the floor space and piles of belongings , up to one meter deep at some points.
Chow and her former partner Danny Chen, who did not live there but was still listed as a tenant, were ordered to pay the Langara Gardens apartment building more than $512,000 for damages caused by the fire.
“I am satisfied that Ms. Chow created an objectively foreseeable and unreasonable risk of harm – and in particular a risk of fire – to Langara and the other tenants by maintaining her apartment in a state of near hoarding,” Kirchner’s said in its decision, published online on Friday.
The fire spread to other apartments and the court ruled that Chow must also pay $56,000 to Langara Gardens for lost rent while the damaged units were repaired.
A fire investigator testified that the fire started when household items in the unit, possibly a box or pillow case, came into contact with a halogen bulb when Chow was momentarily out of the room.
Chow and a neighbor tried to put out the fire using a baby tub to carry water before pulling the building’s fire alarm and evacuating.
“I find that Ms. Chow was negligent in causing the fire that damaged her unit and other parts of the building,” Kirchner concluded in the decision.
Kirchner’s ruling noted that Chow had insurance at one point, which was required under the lease, but had allowed it to lapse before the fire.
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