The future of the buildings still standing impacted by last fall’s fire on Oliver Street is still in a holding pattern.
Read more: Fire claims two historic buildings in downtown Williams Lake
Williams Lake’s building inspector Gary Deane told the Tribune Tuesday the City knew it would be a long process and it’s proven to be the way it is going.
“I think I was honest from day one that this was going to be a long, drawn out affair. Usually if we have a single commercial fire like that it takes awhile, but when we have six buildings affected, it seems to take forever.”
Where the New World Cafe and Diamonds and Dust were located, the properties have been stabilized to ensure there is no sloughing after the materials, some of it deemed hazardous, were removed and transferred to the 100 Mile House landfill for disposal.
Read more: Hazardous debris from downtown lots being cleaned up after fire
“In the winter time they don’t want to get in there and do any investigations or pull concrete out,” Deane said. “We are still waiting for engineering reports on the remaining three buildings — the barber shop, the tattoo shop and Ming’s Restaurant.”
Insurance companies are dealing with adjusters and there has been no recent update, however, he expects to hear more in a month or so.
“As for right now it’s slow. There have been a number of engineers, structural engineers and geotechs in there looking at the various buildings.”
Deane said the City still doesn’t know which way it will go, meaning whether the buildings will be repaired or taken down.
“Those are decisions the insurance companies and the owners are going to have to make,” Deane said. “As for right now, we are just spinning our wheels and waiting.”
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