Fire officials attribute drop in inner city fires to property safety team

There's been a significant decrease in fires inside abandoned buildings in 2023 compared to 2022, Edmonton fire officials say.

They believe the decrease is due to the work of a pilot program, the Community Property Safety Team.

The team searches out vacant buildings and holds owners accountable if they aren't boarded up to keep people out.

"They do physical inspections of the property to assess that they pose a fire risk. If they do, they will issue a compliance order to secure the building," Assistant Deputy Chief Justin Lallemand of Edmonton Fire Rescue Services said.

Owners are required to board up doors and windows and other entries, and even seal up screw holes.

If the owner fails to secure the building, the city does the work and sends a bill for it.

"If it’s a single family home it could range from $2,000 to $5,000. If it’s a two- to three-story walkup, it could be in the range of $10,000 to $20,000," Lallemand said.

Since April of 2022, the team has ensured 600 vacant buildings have been secured.

As a result, structure fires have dropped by 31 per cent in the inner city, and residential fires are down 12 per cent since last October.

But Lallemand says the work is nowhere near done.

"Even though we’ve addressed 600 properties, annually we’re still receiving calls for many more. The work is not showing signs of abating."

Officials hope the statistics will lead to funding for the pilot project for another 18 months.

Funding is currently scheduled to end in December.

Funding for the project will be discussed by the city's Community Services Committee on Dec. 4.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk