A bar owner in Vancouver’s entertainment district and a resident of the former Howard Johnson hotel above his Granville Street business are recounting very different versions of an incident that saw the SRO tenant get stuck in the building’s ventilation shaft for nearly two days last summer.
On August 29, 2024, Aura Nightclub owner Alan Goodall said he got a call from his bar manager alerting him that someone had been caught in the attic for at least 10 hours.
Goodall said police initially didn’t believe someone could be trapped in such a tight space, but Vancouver Fire Rescue Services was eventually called to look at the vent that leads up to the outside of the building for a potential entrapment.
Firefighters discovered a man stuck inside.
“I think the crew was probably pretty surprised to find a person in there,” Capt. Matthew Trudeau told Global News in an interview.
Trudeau said the man was talked through a self-rescue and was able to wiggle out of the vent himself, uninjured.
“How they got there or why they got there, I think that’s probably a better question for VPD,” said Trudeau.
On Thursday, Goodall showed Global News the area where the incident occurred.
“There’s a small little ventilation and he’s dropped his body down through here and then gained access to the attic,” he said.
“Once you’re up here, if you don’t know where you’re going it would be next to impossible to get out of here.”
Vancouver police said they received a report that someone was seen going into a duct about 25 centimetres or 10 inches wide, on the roof of the former Howard Johnson hotel on August 27 – two days earlier – but could not determine that this had actually happened.
“Luckily the fire department was able to save him because I couldn’t think of anything more horrifying than to be stuck in a vent,” said Goodall.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
Luugat resident Stewart Holcombe told Global News it was a close call, and he believes he was stuck in the vent for a day and a half.
“It was scary,” Holcombe said Thursday. “I didn’t know what to do.”
As to how he became stuck there in the middle of the night, Holcombe said someone was out on the roof and he went to join them in cleaning up debris, specifically, stuff that had been dropped from windows of the SRO over the last couple of years.
That debris, he said, was a hazard for dogs in the adjacent gravel park area where he walks his own dog Luna.
“While I was out there, some of the stuff fell in this hole or an air vent and when I tried to reach down, I thought my head would fit but it didn’t, so my arms were pinned behind me and I was stuck,” Holcombe recounted.
Goodall disputes Holcombe’s account and said it was instead a very creative and risky break-in attempt.
“I was told from the sort of ‘partner in crime’ that they were trying to break into Aura,” said Goodall.
“They confided in that because the person he was with was adamant his friend was down there because he was worried about him, hadn’t seen him in 10 or 12 hours.”
“He was actually the first one out there cleaning debris, and he (saw) me go in the hole and not come back out,” Holcombe countered.
Holcombe denied a break-in was involved.
“No, I was cleaning the ledge actually and there was debris falling into this hole,” he said.
Months later, one of Holcombe’s shoes is still in Aura’s attic, along with a drill – while the vent he entered remains unsealed.
“The thought of someone dying up in my attic and not knowing they’re there … it seems to me a pretty easy fix to prevent it from happening again,” Goodall told Global News.
So far, Goodall said nothing’s been done to address what he considers a safety and security risk.
BC Housing told Global News any questions regarding requests for repairs or alterations, such as blocking the vent, should be directed to Community Impact Real Estate Society (CIRES), which manages the lease of the commercial unit in the building at 1176 Granville Street.
In a statement, CIRES said when it learned of the vent incident last December, it immediately contacted the housing operator (Atira) to ensure they knew, as the issue with the ventilation system is in the residential portion of the building and outside its scope.
Executive director Steven Johnston said CIRES is unaware of the details concerning communication between the housing operator and BC Housing but would encourage the work to be completed as soon as possible for the safety of everyone involved.
“That’s what’s frustrating,” said Goodall. “It’s not getting done.”
“If during the completion of the work there is a role for CIRES, we’d be more than happy to partner with BC Housing and the residential operator to complete it,” said Johnston via email.
Holcombe said he’s grateful to everyone who helped rescue him.
“I thank them profusely,” he said.
BC Housing meanwhile, said it has agreed to take on ceiling repairs from water damage at Aura Nightclub and is developing a scope of work and schedule that works for everyone involved.
Aura has been hit with well over 200 floods, primarily caused by sprinkler systems in BC Housing’s Luugat SRO above him, Goodall said.
Goodall said the ceiling repairs are long delayed, and he’s already had to replace the entire floor himself at a cost of $51,000 for the subfloor and approximately 1,500 square feet of tile.
BC Housing said it is looking into alternative scheduling options to reduce the impact on the club’s operations, but Goodall doesn’t believe the repairs can be done without closing his business for two to three weeks, and he hopes compensation in the form of a break on rent will be considered.
