Neighbours of an abandoned neighbourhood on the Sunshine Coast are urging the district to take action to protect the community after two homes burned to the ground over the weekend.
The fires were reported in the Seawatch neighbourhood around 10 a.m. Saturday, but firefighters were forced to watch as the homes burned for hours, as the area has been off-limits for more than six years.
Residents of 14 properties in the Seawatch subdivision were forced to evacuate their homes in February 2019, when erosion and sinkholes rendered the subdivision unsafe for habitation, prompting a state of local emergency.
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The state of emergency was finally lifted in 2022, but residents have been unable to return.
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In the years since, the houses have been vandalized and their assessed value has dropped from about a million to just two dollars.
“There’s no water protection in the area,” Deputy Fire Chief Stephen Akterberg told Global News. “So our firefighting efforts are limited to life safety only.
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“The crew and I went into the nearby structures to make sure that they didn’t have any life in them and that nobody was in there. And then we just retreated to a safe distance to monitor the situation, see how it was expanding, or if there was any threat to the interface, the forest nearby.”
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The homeowners are stuck in a years-long litigation process with the district and the province.
Now this weekend’s fires have residents worried about a threat beyond the subdivision.
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A Change.org petition is demanding the district take action to protect the community.
Residents want to know what happens if the next fire spreads to adjacent houses or into the surrounding forest.
“I was beside myself because I did not know if that fire would cross the forest and get into our properties on the shore area,” neighbour Lisette Sekaren said.
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“It could have easily gone into Halfmoon Bay, Crowston area, the Peninsula. It’s called a forest fire.”
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The District of Sechelt said in a statement that Seawatch remains a complex issue and the fire department is fully aware of the risks.
But Akterberg said some direction is needed.
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“From a fire safety standpoint, it would be nice to have direction one way or the other as to how we are to deal with these, now that we’ve having more significant events happen in this area,” he said.
The district has tried to limit access to the neighbourhood, but fences have been cut and security cameras have been vandalized.
“Enough is enough — period,” Sekaren said.
“I’ve done my part… I’ve reached the MLA, I’ve reached the ombudsman, I’ve reached the RCMP, I’ve reached the city so many times and the neighbours have done so. But we need an answer now, not tomorrow.”
The fires are being treated as suspicious.
No one has been arrested and there are no reports of any injuries.