Event Safety Fatality File

Man died in Christmas Day tent fire in downtown Vancouver

VANCOUVER — In the concrete bowels of Canada Place in downtown Vancouver, below a luxury hotel and near the berths of ocean liners, are the charred signs of a Christmas Day tragedy.

A man burned to death in a tent, his body still on fire when Vancouver Fire Rescue Services responded on Monday morning.

He is the latest victim in a series of urban tent and encampment blazes across Canada.

The site is a covered area amid cargo loading bays beneath the concrete structures supporting the Vancouver Convention Centre, the Pan Pacific Vancouver hotel and the city’s cruise ship terminal.

Among the charred debris at the site on Wednesday were pages covered in handwriting, a Chinese-language school textbook and magazines, and a Christmas gift bag.

Geoff Clark, the acting assistant chief of operations for the fire rescue service, said crews responded at about 9 a.m. on Monday.

“When crews arrived, they found a gentleman who had succumbed to his injuries, was deceased and still partly on fire and partly smouldering,” said Clark.

“So, they put him out with a fire extinguisher and then continued to put out the tent fire.”

There were no other injuries, and no additional details on the cause of the fire or the victim’s identity have been released.