BURST
A weekend fire in east Vancouver has left several small businesses scrambling to pick up the pieces and start over.
The building is a rundown, metal-sheathed Quonset hut at 1736 East Hastings St. with several small businesses housed inside, including photography studios, a hair and makeup agency and a wedding florist.
In Google street view photos taken last year, the outline of “Pacific Mortar Factory Ltd.” can still be seen on the graffiti-covered exterior wall. The building has also housed an automotive shop in the past.
Faye Smith, who ran a hair and makeup business out of the building, said her husband, Brandon Hart, lost over $100,000 in photography equipment in his studio.
“I found out at 3 p.m. (Sunday) when I was driving back from work and happened to see the building on fire,” said Smith. “I called my husband right away and told him to call his landlords. No one had a clue.
“The building was owned by the city. It has no sprinklers, no smoke detectors and no fire exits. It’s a miracle no one got hurt.”
Vancouver Fire Rescue Services said the blaze was reported just after 3 p.m. Sunday and eight trucks and 36 firefighters were called in. Deputy fire chief Trevor Connelly confirmed it is city-owned and was built in 1949.
The blaze was heavily involved toward the front of the building, which is wood-framed and has a metal roof.
“Crews needed to use forcible entry through a wooden security fence around the structure to gain access to the fire,” said Connelly. No one was inside and there were no injuries.
He said the interior was divided into several rooms, some of which were mostly used for storage. He called the building a writeoff and estimated total losses at $1.5 million.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
A 2024 City of Vancouver report lists the address as part of a land assembly for future non-market housing in the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood. Two of the five buildings had sustained recent fire damage and were already due for demolition, it said.
The properties are all mixed-use commercial/industrial and were due to be leased until rezoning and consolidation begins, likely in late 2027 or early 2028. B.C. Assessment lists the lot at 1736 East Hastings as currently valued at $2.9 million.
Smith said other businesses in the space also lost everything: florist De La Flore Designs, a portrait photography studio run by Aaron Aubrey, The Wednesday Co. wedding planner and several artists’ studios.
Hart had no business insurance and is relying on others to lend him equipment and space to honour his scheduled photo shoots. A GoFundMe has been launched to help Smith and Hart recoup some of their losses and get back to work.
The couple also lost a storage unit full of most of the contents of their condo, which was being staged for sale. Those items might be covered under their home insurance, Smith hopes. But some things can’t be easily replaced.
“Losing our belongings means we also lost all of Lockelee’s clothing, toys, and so many of the little essentials that make daily life with a toddler possible,” Smith wrote on her blog at Faye Smith Agency . “We had even stored away baby supplies we were saving in hope of welcoming a second child one day — all of it is gone.”
The fire has delayed plans to sell their home and relocate to Kelowna, said Smith.
She and Hart spent much of Tuesday sifting through the torched contents trying to salvage things like hard drives, but little is left. Still, Smith emphasized she is mostly just thankful that no one was hurt.
“We are so grateful to be a part of such a beautiful community who have offered temporary aid,” said Smith.