A UHAUL truck owned by Hands on Car Wash was burnt to a crisp recently

By Tommy Osborne

Downtown Safety

String of downtown fires has business owners fed up

Apr 24, 2024 | 5:02 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Downtown Prince George has been no stranger to fires recently, and it has many business owners frustrated and fed up with the damages and dangers it causes. Hands on Car Wash was the most recent victim of property damage, as one of its UHAUL truck burned to a crisp.

“It’s getting worse and worse. Last summer, we had two fires behind the trailer here. They had to call the fire department to put the fire out in the brush. And then now we’ve got them sleeping in our vehicles and lighting fires in it to keep warm. And obviously, this one went wrong for them,” said Hand on Car Wash owner Nick Kozak, when speaking on the recent UHAUL fire.

Kozak believes one of the key reasons he’s seen so many fires recently is due to an ongoing and growing drug crisis. He hopes anyone struggling with addiction or mental health can get the help they need, but is growing frustrated with the amount of property damage being caused as a result.

Kodiaks Volleyball

Kodiaks Volleyball seeks to repeat as provincial champs

10h ago

LOCAL ARCHERY

Local archer off to El Salvador to compete in the Youth and Masters Pan American Championships

10h ago

National Red Dress Day

PGSO dedicates season's final performance to victims of Highway of Tears

10h ago

“They’re not of the right mind right, theyre doing stupid things, like who sits in a truck thats burning for 10 minutes while on fire? I’m surprised the guy made it out alive,” he said.

“I think it’s only a matter of time before people start dying because of these fires,” he added.

Hands on Car Wash isn’t the only one, as the fire crisis has impacted many businesses. Chieftain Auto Parts has also seen several fires, with one of them that could’ve been devastating.

“We’ve had three inside our doorways, we’ve had three beside our gas meters, we’ve had our dumpster torched. And then on Wednesday, when they had the big fire over on fourth (avenue), that was up against our main warehouse. So that’s very scary because our main warehouse has got all of our oils, chemicals, dangerous stuff, and had the fire wall not held, we could have taken out the neighborhood,” said Chieftain Auto Parts CFO Jayne Kelly.

While fires are a huge issue, it’s not the only problem. Property damages of all kinds, such as graffiti, broken windows, thefts, and more, cause thousands of dollars in damages. With graffiti, it costs paint to cover up, and if you don’t you could be fined, meaning businesses are put on the hook for something they didn’t do.

“We have the other problem with all the garbage and needles and everything on the ground. When I called the city, they said we’re supposed to pick them up and give it to them. Well, I don’t think WorkSafeBC would be happy with my employees picking up needles. They’re not equipped or educated,” Kozak said.

“We’ve had scorched windows, broken windows, we’ve had break ins, we’ve had all of our doors damaged. And of course, the damage is always just under your insurance, so it’s not really worth making a claim,” said Kelly.

Kelly, along with many other business owners, say they’ve had enough of having to pay thousands of dollars for an issue that isn’t getting corrected.

“Somebody has got to take some heat other than us. And there’s no compensation for the businesses, if you make a claim, your insurance goes up, you make too many claims, you can’t get insurance. So we’re always the ones stuck in the middle,” she added.

Beyond the cost of repairs, Brent Frechette, a licensed and registered CCTV installer, says

“The amount of money customers are having to spend on this stuff now because of the crazy Moccasin Flats situation and people just going around burning and breaking into things, it’s incredible. And the city needs to do something about it,” Frechette said.

“I am almost continually busy every week on the other side of Queensway, between the Fraser Bridge and Queensway and the First Avenue area. Almost every week I’ve got to go down there and pull footage of someone’s having their places broken into,” he added.

As for solutions, business owners say its time to crack down on the drug crisis and step up incarceration.

“The provincial government just recently closed down our youth detention center. I think it would have been a perfect facility for them to be taken and treated off the streets, incarcerated, so they’re not bothering anyone else. And when they’re cleaned up, then you can help them be housed from there. But instead they closed down the facility and now they’re going to be bringing in a bunch of temporary housing at the end of our street, which is not going to be good,” said Kelly.

With property damage costs continuing to add up, business hope something is done quick before a building or lives are lost to a fire.

Local news. Delivered. Free. Subscribe to our daily news wrap and get our top local stories delivered to your inbox every evening.