VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The president of the Vancouver Firefighters’ Union is concerned members have been overloaded since they started doing more inspections of rental properties.

“We’re simply not able to keep up with the goal of inspections due to cutbacks to staffing, not only in fire halls but also in the fire prevention branch,” Gord Ditchburn says. “I think what this department is finding is they’ve been forced to make too many cuts, and losing bodies, you can’t get more done that way.”

Vancouver Fire promised to work harder on prevention, especially on run-down rooming houses, after a fire killed three people on Pandora Street in East Vancouver two years ago.

In January, Vancouver Fire vowed to increase the number of inspections of rental properties from 13,000 to 20,000 this year. Many of those inspections are being done by firefighters instead of fire prevention officers.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t say that my firefighters are finding it somewhat overwhelming as we’ve made a lot of changes over the last few years,” says Vancouver Fire Chief John McKearney. “What I say to them is the best work we can do is put the fire out before it starts and when you have an organization that has roughly 21 fire prevention officers and roughly 750 fire suppression officers, it’s a simple math equation.”

In October of last year, a coroners inquest was tasked with recommending how to prevent a tragedy like the Pandora Street fire from happening again. It suggested the city should make it easier to shut down problem properties where tenant’s lives are in danger.

“The only issue we are still working on is what is the actual definition of ‘imminent danger’ because it has shifted around a little bit,” says Vancouver city councillor Kerry Jang. “This is the point in which we go in and evict people and our legal department is still working with the province.”

Two buildings deemed too dangerous were closed earlier this year.

The fire department also does routine checks on about 30 single room occupancy buildings that fall into a ‘high risk’ category of rental properties in the city.

“None of us will stand for leaving people in a building where there are significant safety issues,” Jang says.

In 2010 there were 1,530 working fires in Vancouver and that number dropped 1,410 in 2011.

McKearney says those numbers show the continued focus on fire prevention is working.

Ditchburn acknowledges fire prevention is important, but questions whether Vancouver Fire has the manpower to handle the added responsibilities.

“They’re falling short on their inspections and they’re falling short on their response times in getting to these calls,” Ditchburn says. “We’re stretching our resources even further every single day.”

Surrey Councillor Wants to Change Residential Tenancy Act

Surrey city councillor Judy Villeneuve wants to make it easier for tenants to fight back against landlords who refuse to do repairs.

This comes after News1130 was taken on a tour of a rental unit in Surrey that has mold on the walls, appliances that don’t work, and chipped paint.

“Basically what’s happening is the landlord owns that property and they’re simply using it as, my guess is, holding property,” Villeneuve says. “They’re waiting for development to take place so they’re not doing anything to upkeep those properties and the tenants have little recourse to say these are our homes.”

Villeneuve is calling for a review of the Residential Tenancy Act and she will bring the issue up at the Union of BC Municipalities meeting later this month.

She adds it’s not just tenants that need protection.

“There are landlords that try to be good landlords and they have difficulties with tenants and I respect that,” Villeneuve says. “They feel frustrated with the recourse they have with the RTA as well, so I just think that act has not been reviewed for a long period of time.

The UBCM Convention goes from September 24 – 28 in Victoria.