Port Alberni woke up to a light blanket of smoke over the central part of the city as a vacant building on lower 4th Ave. had flames shooting from its roof.
The Wintergreen Apartments was once a two-building complex located on the 3600 block of 4th Avenue, a rough part of the city known for criminal activity.
The two buildings stood side by side on lower 4th Avenue until the first building burnt down in July 2013. Everyone escaped but several people were left homeless. In May 2023, a fire broke out in an upstairs unit, destroying that apartment and taking the life of the lone occupant.
The remaining building has remained vacant and boarded up since 2023.
The City of Port Alberni ordered the owners, Randy Brown and Martin Chambers, to make repairs on the property back in 2020. The building was severely deteriorated, several run down RV trailers set up on the side of the building were being rented out, there were safety violations related to the electrical modification made at the building and there was a high number of RCMP service calls to the property.
Following the 2023 fire, the trailers were removed and the property cleaned up and the damaged building was boarded up. A trailer remained at the back of the property.
On the morning of November 3, 2026, a neighbor living two doors down from the Wintergreen Apartment building says he woke up to the news that the building was on fire.
The home next to the burning building, a duplex, had its basement residents evacuated. The upstairs portion of the duplex is boarded up and vacant. According to the neighbor, it was recently purchased and the new owners were about to start renovations.
The neighbor said there is a trailer behind the Wintergreen apartment building where people live and they are known to have ‘bonfires’ near the alley. But, he says, the fire appears to be concentrated in the center building, upstairs.
The Port Alberni Fire Department remains on scene and has closed the 3600 block of 4th Avenue. It is not known if there were any injuries.
