By Greg Fry

‘I hope this is a joke’: North Shore property owner reacts to house fire

Feb 15, 2018 | 11:11 AM

KAMLOOPS — The owner of a notorious North Shore property was stunned to hear the home has suffered extensive fire damage.

“I found out last night about 10 p.m. Alberta time,” says property owner Brandan Shankar, who is currently working in northern Alberta. “And my first thought was I hope this is a joke and then I wanted to find out how bad it was.”

The fire broke out Wednesday night at 217 Nelson Avenue – an address well known to police and the site of a shooting last October. 

Kamloops Fire Rescue Platoon Captain Darryl Cooper says neighbours reported an explosion that shook the home early last evening. He says when fire crews arrived, they found smoke coming from the basement.

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The blaze was put out in short order and is being treated as suspicious, with arson believed to be a possibilty, though nothing has been confirmed yet. 

A basement window was found broken and will be examined more closely by fire and police officials today.

Shankar says the restoration company responsible for boarding the place up has estimated damages as high as $80,000.

“And I’ve already had a lot of damages to the house from previous tenants so it’s adding up. But I am going to fix this place.”

Shankar pledged to do so during a November interview with CFJC Today. At the time he apologized to area residents for all the disruption the property had caused and promised to do better.

Since that time he’s evicted all tenants from the home and has been busy saving up his money for all the necessary repairs.

Shankar says he’s been in contact with the Kamloops RCMP about the fire but isn’t divulging any details about a possible cause until they complete their investigation.

As for next steps, he reiterates he’s committed to completing all the repairs.

“This place has the potential to be better so I want to see that through…I am on schedule to do what I said I was going to do in November. I’m going to fix it.”