A fundraiser popped up online last week to help the downtown Port Coquitlam residents displaced by a fire on June 18.
The GoFundMe page was started by Gemma Wilson with the aim to collect $36,000 for the victims of the Orchard Valley Apartments fire.
The money will go for the “necessities they lost in the fire and general financial support,” Wilson wrote, noting many of the residents in the complex at 2446–2430 Wilson Ave. were seniors and families.
To donate to the cause, you can visit the GoFundMe website.
A total of 114 residents were temporarily displaced and 30 units were affected by the fire that happened at around 11 a.m. last Tuesday, June 18.
Two people were rushed to Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster to treat for smoke inhalation, while others were taken to the nearby Port Coquitlam Community Centre where an emergency response reception area was set up.
Some residents have since returned home.
The fire broke out on the top floor of the aging three-storey building, which does not have a sprinkler system.
Fire crews from Coquitlam and Maple Ridge were also deployed to battle the blaze; it was extinguished at 3:30 a.m. on June 19.
Fire Chief Blake Clarkson told the Tri-City News today, June 25, that insurance officials are on site and fire crews will go inside the building this week to look for the cause of the fire.
"It's not considered criminal," he said.
Clarkson said all but three of the strata units were insured; two pets are also reported missing.
Dozens of residents at a Port Coquitlam apartment complex impacted by a 'tricky' fire Tuesday could be home today https://t.co/ZRKmrwnRoV
— Tri-City News (@TriCityNews) June 19, 2024
