The owner of Penhold's fire-devastated Wild Rose Manor apartment building says he wants to rebuild the 18-unit structure that was left in a charred crumbled heap on April 10.
However, Jim Guilbault, a retired rental property manager from Lacombe, added he's still waiting for final costs and estimates to come in to determine what type and how large a replacement structure he can put on the site at 40 Esther Close.
“That is certainly our plan, to rebuild it one way or another,” said Guilbault. “At the moment we are debating whether it will be as big a structure, or whether we are going to put more money down there to build the same size structure. Those are the things we are reviewing here.”
Guilbault said one issue that has to be seriously considered is his building was “under insured” by as much as $700,000 and that he won't get full replacement value for the damaged structure.
He said for the next few weeks he will be reviewing the costs to put the fire out and to clean up the site before major decisions are made.
“I am sure we are going to get one,” he said of the pending cleanup bill. “It isn't going to be cheap, I suspect. I wouldn't want to hazard to guess.”
Jim Pendergast, the town's fire chief, said the estimated cost of the fire is $3 million. He said the building, which was constructed in 1978, was insured for $1.8 million while tenants' contents had an estimated value of $900,000. He said it cost about $300,000 for firefighters to battle the blaze, a figure that includes the cost of having the Innisfail and Red Deer County fire departments assisting the Penhold Fire Department.
Guilbault said he was in Lacombe when he was notified that a huge fire had broken out at Wild Rose Manor shortly after 5:40 p.m. on April 10.
“I was pretty concerned. I rushed down to see what could be done but there was not much we could do when we got there,” said Guilbault. “We were more concerned about the people than anything, that they got out safe and sound.
“We can replace the building and work around that one way or another but it is a pretty tough situation for the people,” he added. “Most just got out with their clothes on their backs, while their whole lives and everything else was destroyed right there.”
Guilbault said he met with 14 out of the 18 tenants on April 13 at the Town of Penhold office. He said insurance issues were discussed and tenants were paid back their security deposits and refunded the balance of the month's rent.
“There are still two or three we have not contacted,” he said, adding contact information has been left with the town. “It is a little tough for the people. Some of them have lost their cellphones and everything else, and some are scattered all over the country. Even with the Red Cross they have taken everybody's names but they won't give them to me so I am kind of out in the cold and I am just sitting here waiting.”
Guilbault, who notified town officials last week to remind them to give tenants his contact phone number, said there is one tenant who works up north and is sometimes away for two months at a time.
In the meantime, the building owner said he had no idea the building once had highly flammable cedar siding, as stated last week by Pendergast.
“I have never known the building to have cedar siding. It's never had that to my knowledge,” said Guilbault.
He said he re-sided the building three years ago with vinyl, which is also considered a flammable material by many in the home-building industry.
Pendergast said a fire inspection was made on the apartment building last February.
He said there were “some deficiencies” that had to be corrected immediately but no orders were issued for the work to be done by certain dates. However, the owner complied with the fire department's direction, said Pendergast.
“Anything we felt that was urgent we got corrected immediately,” he said.
See further coverage on page 7.
