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PRINCE GEORGE

FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2003

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Arson investigator probes Yellowhead fire
by KAREN KWAN Citizen Staff An RCMP arson investigator began sifting through the charred rubble of the Yellowhead Inn Thursday, hoping to find clues into the cause of this week's spectacular blaze. Const. Mike Caira said the use of an arson specialist doesn't mean investigators have determined the fire at Central Street and 15th Avenue was deliberately set. "Until you can get all the ducks in a row, it's a fact-finding mission," he said. "We're looking for anything that may be suspicious, any accelerant, anything that might let them find out what caused it," he said. He said the probe will focus on the front lobby area of the 100-room hotel, where fire officials believe the blaze started Tuesday af ternoon, even though the doors were locked. Firefighters had to break through the doors to get at the flames, fire chief Jeff Rowland said. Meanwhile, questions remain about the reported lack of fire-safety measures in the now-razed building. The hotel has been for sale since it closed in February over financial problems, but the Bank of Montreal was still operating at the location and has now moved services to its downtown branch. Fire chief Rowland said the threestorey complex did not contain any "fire breaks, stops or walls," but added investigators don't know whether it met safety standards at the time it was built in 1975. Dan Milburn, who oversees building permits for the city, said the builders of the Yellowhead Inn applied for a permit on Sept. 24, 1973, and constructed the complex using 1970 building-code regulations. The rules were supposedly the most current at the time. But B.C. Building Code administrator Lyle Kuhnert, based in Victoria, said requirements for fire-prevention structures have been in place in B.C. since Sept. 1, 1973, when the first provincial building code came into effect. "It wasn't something municipalities would have to adopt. It would be a blanket requirement" across t he province, he said. Prior to that, municipalities could adopt whatever regulations they wanted, he said, although they generally followed the national building code. Under that code, Kuhnert said firesafety measures have been in place for more than 40 years. "Those have been basic fundamentals for many years, probably back into the '50s but at least the '60s," he said. Fire separations, which partition suites and corridors, and fire stops to seal spaces where a pipe runs through a floor or wall, would be required, he said. Firewalls, which divide a building into separate compartments, could be mandatory depending on the size and footprint of the structure. Milburn, with the city's building department, said municipal inspectors would have reviewed design and construction plans and inspected the site throughout the process. "We check during construction at multiple stages," he said. He said the city would have required any problems to be fixed before approving a permit for occupancy.

Cup parading through city on Labour Day
by TED CLARKE Citizen staff Everybody loves a parade. But the one that's coming to town on Labour Day is a parade like no other to ever roll through the city. On that day, New Jersey Devils winger and Prince George minor hockey product Turner Stevenson will bring the Stanley Cup to an expected crowd of thousands who will pack the parade route to get a glimpse of what is arguably the most beautiful trophy in all of professional sports. The parade will start at Fourth Avenue and Victoria Street Monday at 3 p.m. and continue east on Fourth to George Street. From there, Turner and the Cup will head to City Hall for an official ceremony. While the parade is on, city firefighters will be walking among the crowd selling raffle tickets on Turner's Devils jersey, which is signed by all members of the team. Proceeds will go to the Prince George Burn Fund. Stevenson earned the right to bring the Cup to his former hometown when the Devils defeated the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the Stanley Cup final last June. Ever since then, speculation has been brewing as to when he'd bring hockey's Holy Grail to the city. "It's finally going to be here and I'm very excited," said Raelene Stevenson, Turner's sister in Prince George. "Unfortunately the Cup will be here a bit shorter than we'd hoped. He's the last guy on the team who has it and he's taking it to Seattle (where his wife Kim lives) the next morning."

Citizen photo by Dave Milne

CALM MOMENT -- A man enjoys the peace of Paddlewheel Park in South Fort George overlooking the Fraser River on Thursday.

Groups demanding seat 2010 optimism at safety task force table less in Interior,
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INDEX
Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . .18 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 Business . . . . . . . . . .19-22,28 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . .3,5,13 Classified . . . . . . . . . . .29-35 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Coming Events . . . . . . . .2,16 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Entertainment . . . . . . .25,27 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Lifestyles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6,7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14,15

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by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff The Western Fallers Association continues to push to be included as part of a B.C. government-appointed task force meant to cut the death and injury rate in the forest sector in half within three years. Two more people were added to the task force this week -- Sandy McDade, senior vice president of Weyerhaeuser's Canadian operation, Dave Brensrud, an independent faller from Revelstoke. But Randy Shoop, president of the Western Fallers Association (WFA), said Brensrud is not part of the executive of the association and he doesn't know if he's on the growing membership list of the recently created group. "They will not let the large organized voice of the falling community speak on their own deaths and terrible accidents," said Shoop, who's from Hazelton, but was in Vancouver Thursday where he's attending meetings on setting WCB rates in the logging sector. "Without the large amount of accurate information we will bring to the table in the falling portion, the talks are sure to fail," added Shoop. The first meeting of the safety task force, which now totals 11 members, was also held in Vancouver Thursday. A first report with recommendations is expected to be delivered to Labour Minister Graham Bruce by the end of the year. The task force includes four CEOs of major forest companies including Canfor and Slocan. There are also three senior IWA officials, including president Dave Haggard, and the executive director of the Coast's B.C. Truck Loggers Association. Three associations representing Interior and northern B.C. loggers are also pushing for representation on the task force. The Central Interior Logging Association,

the Interior Logging Association and the North West Loggers Association represent an area where three quarters of the province's timber is harvested. Central Interior Logging Association general manager Roy Nagel has said the task force is out of balance because there's no Interior or northern logging contractor or trucking representatives. He noted in a newsletter to the Central Interior association's members this week that logging and hauling conditions are different from the Coast, since most logging and hauling takes place in the winter in the Interior. Nagel also wants the task force to address the issue of stumpage bingo, which he believes is causing deaths of logging-truck drivers in the Central and Northern Interior. Stumpage bingo is the term Nagel coined more than two years ago to describe the practice of forest companies holding back log hauling if they anticipate a stumpage drop, as the fees are not paid until timber is delivered to the sawmill yard. While the strategy can save forest companies millions of dollars, it puts incredible pressure on haulers which then have to deliver large volumes of timber in a short time period. Logging has the highest fatality rate of all industries in B.C. Between 1993 and 2002, there were 250 logging-related deaths in the province. A 1996 report by the Workers Compensation Board on the logging industry showed that more than half of the 70 deaths between 1993 and 1995 took place in the Interior and northern B.C. While fallers were most at risk for fatalities, accounting for 20 per cent of deaths during the period, truck drivers and log loaders and sorters were close behind, accounting for 19 and 18 per cent of fatalities respectively.

survey reveals

by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff A new Ipsos Reid poll reveals most British Columbians are optimistic about the economic impact of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, but less so in the North and Interior region of the province. While 71 per cent of those surveyed predicted that the Games will be a boon to the economy, that optimism dropped to 62 per cent in the Interior and Northern B.C. Of those in the Interior and Northern B.C., 27 per cent said the Olympics would have a very positive effect. Another 35 per cent said the Games would have a somewhat positive impact. Those surveyed in the North and Interior -- 200 of the 800 people surveyed -- believed the impacts on tourism and retail business would be more positive for the province than their particular region. While 80 per cent believed that there would be a positive impact on overall retail sales in B.C., only 49 per cent believed it would have a positive impact on their region. Close to 90 per cent of those in the North and Interior said the Games would have a positive impact on tourism overall in the province. But that number dropped to 58 per cent for their region. People surveyed in the Vancouver-Burnaby region are the most optimistic on the benefits of the Olympics for their particular region. In Vancouver and Burnaby, 90 per cent said they believed the tourism impact would be positive and 85 per cent indicated the impact on retail sales would be positive.

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