Donations, support grows for victims of North Vancouver apartment fire

NORTH VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Support continues to pour in for those affected by last week’s devastating deadly fire in North Vancouver.

The annual Lynn Valley Days festival, held Saturday night, served as a hub for donations for the 14 families displaced by the massive blaze.

Jacqueline Diamond, who set up a GoFundMe page for the families and volunteered at the festival, says the support was simply overwhelming.

“It’s just really nice to see everybody coming together, really wanting to help and people dropping off donations of clothing and stuff. People were going out and buying brand new stuff and bringing it in to us. To see the community care so much is just so heartwarming.”

Holding back tears, she adds donations continue to pile up today. “People are caring and we’re trying our hardest to take away some of the stress because we can’t replace family belongings and people but we can try and take some of the stress away for them.”

Diamond says she has heard from some of the people affected by the fire, but is asking anyone who wasn’t reached out to do so immediately.

“Some people are going to see some counselors and talk about and stuff. They’re just feeling in shock about it all. It’s not something anybody should have to go through, especially in this day and age. They really want to know what happened because the rest of the complexes are worried about their own safety.”

The victims will be able to visit a support hub on Sunday and Monday to browse through the donated items.

Early last Monday morning, the fire broke out at the Mountain Village Garden Apartments on Mountain Highway near East 24th Street. It left a woman and her young son dead, while a dozen others were injured.

Crews have had to wait for the structure to be stable enough for them to enter as the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

There was extensive damage to 17 units and roughly 70 people in total have been displaced.