File photo (Image credit: CFJC Today).

By Aaron Schulze

91 West Seymour Demolition

Kamloops looking to accelerate demolition of fire-damaged home on Seymour Street West

May 5, 2025 | 11:27 AM

KAMLOOPS — It’s been more than a year since a demolition permit was issued for a downtown Kamloops rooming house that was significantly damaged by fire.

Now the City of Kamloops is looking at avenues it can take to speed up the demolition of the apartment building at 91 Seymour St. West.

Despite minimal progress since the demolition permit was issued on April 4, 2024, Kamloops Fire Rescue (KFR) Chief Ken Uzeloc says the property owner is cooperating with the city.

“They’ve had some trouble with a couple of contractors that they had in place to do the demolition,” Uzeloc told CFJC Today. “I’m not sure exactly what the details were with the contractors, but I think it has to do with some of the conditions around hazard abatement and things with the structure.”

In Dec. 2023, while still unoccupied and completely boarded up with further construction taking place, the building at 91 Seymour St. W. went up in flames. There’s still no suspected cause of the fire as Uzeloc says no one has been allowed in the building due stability issues caused by the roof structure being burned through.

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However, since the fire, Uzeloc says residents of Kamloops’ street population have removed the boarding on the building so they can use it as a temporary shelter.

“That’s why the Community Services Officers (CSOs) are doing routine patrols to make sure the property is fenced and secured, and why we required the property owner to have a security company do routine checks,” Uzeloc added.

“It’s not safe for anybody to be inside or around it because of the structural damage. We want to make sure that things are being done as quickly as possible to make it safe and remove what I would consider is probably an unsightly property for the neighbours.”

He said KFR and the city’s Community Services Division, along with legal counsel, are exploring different options under the Community Charter to accelerate the demolition process. As examples, Uzeloc said council could give the property owner time to demolish the building themselves or allow take over the process and then bill the property owner.

“If we haven’t seen work progressing from the property owner, then within the next month or two we’ll be taking some sort of action,” Uzeloc said.

In Oct. 2022, nearly two dozen people were evicted from the building on 91 Seymour St. West following a five-month investigation. At the time, Uzeloc said he was concerned about faulty smoke alarms and hoarding making the home unsafe.

After the building was forcibly vacated, KFR said the owner made the necessary safety improvements, prior to the fire in Dec. 2023.