SD73 received a Parkcrest Elementary Fire Incident Report looking at how it has been handled so far.

Board Chair Kathleen Karpuk says the report brought forward six recommendations about what it will do going forward. Those include annually reviewing and demonstrating fire panels to staff to make sure everyone knows how to use them properly. “Review and strengthen some of our reporting processes. We’re going to continue to update schools with sprinkler systems even though the report did say that with a sprinkler system, if it had been present, we still would have lost the school. But, they are important that we have those and so we will be installing them in those building that don’t have sprinklers.”.

One step is putting sprinkler systems in at facilities across the city, although Kamloops Fire Rescue says sprinklers wouldn’t have helped in this case. “Built under a different building code from the 1960’s. It’s got a lot of hidden spaces and empty spaces and that’s where the fire origin was, which made it difficult to reach and difficult to put out. It has spread quite far before Kamloops Fire Rescue was able to get there.”

Karpuk says there is little to report on a replacement. “We’re still working with the Ministry. We don’t have any firm answers yet for when Parkcrest will be rebuilt.”

The full Parkcrest Elementary Fire Incident Report has not yet been posted online.