Structure fires have caused over $38 million in damage in downtown Prince George in the past five years.
That’s according to a report going to council Monday night from the city’s director of administrative services, Eric Depenau.
The report compiles data from the Office of the Fire Commissioner and examines data from 2022 to 2025 in the downtown core, as well as compiling information on the likely cause for several significant fires including one that levelled CrossRoads Brewing, just a block away from city hall, last year.
“Really, it’s an outrage. It’s absolutely absurd,” said Eoin Foley, restauranteur and head of the Downtown Prince George business association.
Foley says a constant string of deliberately set fires in alleys and doorways downtown is hurting morale of both businesses and customers, and taking a major bite out of people’s bottom lines.
“It’s getting harder and harder just to get insurance,” he said. “In the downtown area, there are some companies that won’t even quote anymore.”
Depenau’s report says that while there is a zero-tolerance for open burning, it has been found to be ineffective to take punitive measures against people who are lighting fires for warmth, in part because they lack the ability to pay.
Instead, he writes, the approach has been to issue warning tickets in order to track the issue and encourage people to move to shelters or drop-in centres.
A separate report, also going to council Monday, outlines the results of a 32-day pilot program in which bylaw officers patrolled the downtown area overnight in order to respond to a high number of open burning reports in the fall of 2025.
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During the pilot, two officers drove around the downtown core in a grid system and patrolled for open burning. They put out 52 “exclusively small” fires in that time, Depeneau wrote, with those responsible being given warning tickets and being directed to shelters.
He says staff also attempted to find a correlation between cold weather and the number of fires found but, in the short period of time the program ran, they did not find a link.
He says the cost of the program was paid through overtime for two bylaw officers overnight, for a total cost of $22,400, or $700 a day. That would translate to $255,500 over 365 days.
In a separate report going to council on Monday, RCMP Supt. Darin Rappel says he believes the best solution will be to have city bylaw officers patrol the downtown 24/7, alongside RCMP.
Foley, who runs two restaurants downtown, says he just hopes something can be done to tackle the interlocking social issues that are preventing people from investing their time and money in the neighbourhood.
“Maybe I’m a fool for being an eternal optimist, but I believe in Prince George,” he said. “A great community has a thriving town and we’re going to keep pushing no matter how long it takes.”
