Crews were called to battle a serious fire in a supportive housing facility on Vancouver’s Granville Street Wednesday afternoon.
Vancouver Fire Rescue Services said it called in support from a second fire hall to help battle the flames in the former Howard Johnson hotel that now serves as a single-room accommodation housing facility.
Firefighters said at least two people were hurt, and that Granville Street had been closed between Helmcken and Davie streets.
The B.C. government bought the building at 1176 Granville in 2020, and controversially converted it to housing as it sought to quickly shelter the city’s homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It has since generated thousands of emergency calls, with residents setting fires, pulling fire alarms and setting off the building’s sprinkler systems.