A fire may have destroyed two of New Westminster’s most beloved heritage buildings, but it also ignited a tremendous sense of community spirit in the Royal City.
Fire broke out in the historic 1904 E.L. Lewis Block, the longtime home of Copp’s Shoes, about 3:45 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 10 and soon spread to the adjacent 1899 Hamley Block. The fire’s heat was so intense that it melted streetlights a block away.
Although the fire in the 600 block of Columbia Street didn’t come close to matching the devastation caused in the Great Fire of 1898, the impact and response to the fire have made it The Record’s choice of the top story of 2013. Damage estimates suggest it could reach $5 million.
When the flames were doused on the afternoon of Oct. 10, the fire destroyed two buildings housing 23 businesses, and another 25 businesses suffered soot and smoke damage.
For days after the flames were doused, community members flocked to the site, many expressing disbelief and sadness at the loss of the buildings and concern for business owners. The fire also served as a rallying point for businesses and community members, who offered to assist in whatever way needed.
“It speaks to the human spirit. People recognize you can’t go back and you have to go forward,” local historian Jim Wolf told The Record. “New Westminster has a long history of that.”
The City of New Westminster, the New Westminster Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown New Westminster Business Improvement Area worked together to reach out to assist businesses and to coordinate response efforts.
Cori-Lynn Germiquet, executive director of the New Westminster Chamber of Commerce, said there was “magic” in the way the community rallied together after the fire.
Within days, many of the businesses surrounding the two buildings destroyed in the fire had reopened, and some of those that had been located in the E.L. Lewis and the Hamley blocks were working on relocation plans.
A month after the devastating fire, all of the businesses still standing had reopened, and several of those that had been located in the buildings that were gutted had relocated elsewhere within New Westminster.
As the year drew to a close, efforts were also underway to promote the fact that the downtown was open for business, despite the devastating fire.
While the site remains a hole filled with rubble, it’s likely to see lot of action in 2014.
In January, the remaining portion of the Hamley Block will be demolished, and the rubble will be hauled away.
What will rise out of the ashes of the E.L. Lewis and Hamley blocks has yet to be determined – stay tuned.
