On Monday night, a fire tore through a BC Housing-run unit displacing three adults and seven children.
Richmond-Fire Rescue was called to the Rosewood Village on No. 2 Road near Blundell Road around 8 p.m. Fire crews quickly extinguished the fire and damage was limited to the unit where the fire originated and to the outside of a neighbouring unit. There were no injuries or casualties.
To help those living in the units, Emergency Social Services was called to arrange for accommodation for two adults and two children from one of the units. The other displaced residents found their own housing. A representative from BC Housing told the Richmond News by email that "displaced families will be housed in another BC Housing complex within the Lower Mainland."
One Rosewood Village resident, Nathalie Pope, told the News that the complex is “a tough neighbourhood.” Pope lives across the parking lot from the unit that burned and said she hasn’t seen a fire inside a unit like this one since she moved into the complex in 2009.
“BC Housing is already doing yearly smoke detector inspections,” Pope said, referring to how the housing organization could help the neighbourhood. “People are careless on their own, so the law should be involved, I would think.”
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
