Sad Irony: Fire in Gastown Turns On Incendio
January 6, 2009 by Andrew Morrison
Filed under Andrew Morrison, Downtown, Gluttony
A few readers alerted us to a major fire in Gastown this morning, and we just received a note from restaurateur Sean Heather (of the Irish Heather):
Heads up…..5 engine fire in apartments above Incendio and Canvas. Difficult to breath air in Gastown right now. Water and smoke damage to Incendio is of shut down proportion.
That puts it at 103 Columbia at Gore. Bummer.
Update from News 1130:
Crews are on the scene of a three alarm fire in Gastown at this hour. At least 20 people have been cleared from a building on Alexander Street near Columbia, which has a restaurant on the ground floor and several apartments above.
Witnesses say it appears the fire started on the ground floor inside the Incendio Pizzeria. Firefighters are still looking for potential hotspots.
There’s no word on a cause of the fire, or if anyone has been injured.
Vancouver Police have now closed Alexander between Main and Carrall Street, as well as Cordova between Main and Columbia.
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Andrew Morrison is a west coast boy who studied history and classics at the Universities of Cape Town and Toronto after an adolescence spent riding skateboards and working in restaurants. He is the editor of Scout Magazine, the weekly food and restaurant columnist for the Westender newspaper, and a contributor to Vancouver and Western Living magazines.
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I heard on the CBC that it started in Incendio early at around 5am this morning. No one was injured but it sounds pretty bad for the restaurant. Too bad. They made OK pies.
We notcied the acrid aroma of smoke in our loft 2 blocks over around 7am this morning. Looks like the fire was on the 2nd or 3rd floor. Could not see the damage to Incendio.
Let’s hope it wasn’t too bad. I love that building.
Hey Stephen, have they opened the street yet?
It’s wrecked. The floor looks all right but the kitchen is really fucked up and burned. Sad stuff. And yes the streets are open again.
Shitty.
who cares about incendio, what about the 20 + people who dont have a home. sure the city of vancouver will put them up in some hotel for 3 days but then what. theres almost nowhere else in van, that is as affordable as alexander court was.
Point taken.
Good point Kyle. My understanding is that at least 38 people are now homeless and of course most don’t have insurance. Any chance of Incendio West hosting a fundraiser for the tenants?
I wonder if the restaurant’s insurance will help the tenants out, if in fact the fire is the fault of the restaurant?
I would doubt it. Short of suing and incurring legal fees, the tenants are at the mercy of the building’s insurance, and I would doubt it would it cover them in the least. I hope I’m wrong and they’re all sorted.