Crews have begun tearing down a burned gas station, site of an October 2020 fire and numerous problems involving squatters in the months since. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

COMING DOWN

VIDEO: Demolition of burned downtown Nanaimo gas station underway

Jan 21, 2022 | 3:09 PM

NANAIMO — A badly damaged building, which quickly turned into a trouble spot for surrounding homes is finally being torn down.

Crews began dismantling the Husky gas station on Terminal Ave. in downtown Nanaimo on Thursday, Jan. 20 following an October 2020 fire.

Flames shot out of the back of the site just after 3 a.m. on Oct. 6, 2020, leading to a massive response from Nanaimo Fire Rescue with 16 officers from four stations on scene.

Damage was limited to the storefront and did not threaten the pumps.

In the weeks and months after the fire, residents of the Newcastle neighbourhood noted people squatting at the shuttered site, bypassing fences around the property and boarded up doors and windows.

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An October 2021 site visit by members of the Newcastle Community Association revealed breached fences and signs of open drug use at the property.

“It’s apparently been resecured over and over again, it’s been an ongoing problem…people trying to access the site,” Karen Kuwica, member of the Newcastle Community Association, told NanaimoNewsNOW in October 2021. “The neighbourhood sees the effects of that squatting and the site being used, breached basically.”

In response to their concerns, Husky’s parent company Cenovus bolstered security and monitoring at the site to deter future squatters.

The property is destined to be remediated to a bare lot ahead of a sale by Cenovus at a later date.

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