A long-running saga surrounding a burnt out home at a Prince George trailer park may soon come to an end.
Gutted in a Jan. 12, 2011 fire, the home will be completely removed from its pad within the next couple of weeks, Sunrise Mobile Home manager Kelly Phelps said Wednesday.
“There are a few outside walls that have to be collapsed in and then the frame will be towed away after that,” Phelps said.
The work’s completion can’t come soon enough as far as at least one nearby resident is concerned. He said it’s become a safety hazard as well as an eyesore, and maintained the removal has taken far too long.
Workers were on the scene Wednesday dismantling the home and sorting through the debris.
Following the blaze, Mike Reimer, who gained notoriety as the owner of the Packrat Palace, bought the structure.
In 2010, Reimer lost an extended legal battle over complaints about hoarding at his previous home on Fisk Avenue. It ended with the city winning permission to remove the items.
When alerted about his plans for his Sunrise location, city officials issued a stop work order in November 2011.
City subdivision, infrastructure and building inspection manager Don Parent said Wednesday the mobile home lost its Canadian Standards Association certification after the fire and, with the exception of the caretaker’s home, only CSA approved manufactured homes are permitted in mobile home parks.
Parent said he advised Reimer that a reconstructed mobile home must be moved to a private lot because CSA standards are not
applied to site-built homes.
City officials also carried out an overall inspection at Sunrise, where they uncovered issues related to unpermitted additions that pose a fire hazard due to the lack of separation between homes.
Reimer had claimed a number of other homes in the park had lost their integrity because of the additions, but Parent said that has not been the city’s observation.
“When we do permit additions, we make sure that the addition is freestanding and then it doesn’t affect the integrity of the trailer,” Parent said.
In a June interview, Reimer said he is no longer the home’s owner.
