ATHABASCA — The snow-covered pile of rubble many locals and passersby have grown accustomed to seeing at the former site of the Grand Union Hotel is set to be gone by this week, according to the property owner.
Jaspaul Singh Boparai, owner of the 100-year-old hotel that burned down in a blaze that caught the community off guard July 23, said he expects clean-up efforts at the site to wrap up before the end of the calendar year.
In a Dec. 17 interview with the Athabasca Advocate, Boparai said the debris left after fire crews demolished the hotel to save surrounding infrastructure would be gone in a week.
“I was in B.C. that day, Randy was the first one to call me,” said Boparai, recalling the day of the fire. “By 11 in the morning, I said I’m on my way back. It was kind of a heart attack thing when I heard that, because we love that place, I’m pouring money into it every year.”
Trucks, equipment, and Boparai himself arrived back at the site on Dec. 9 to restart the clean-up efforts that began in early October. Equipment and crews worked for a handful of days starting Oct. 1 and left shortly after, leaving much of the sooty remains and excavated basement to gather snow.
The Town of Athabasca had issued municipal clean up orders for the site in the months after the fire, with a deadline of Sept. 16. Boparai submitted a request for extension to council, a request council granted with an amended deadline of Sept. 30, which passed before the first round of clean-up efforts commenced.
“Insurance, they didn’t give us a solid answer, we’re still going back and forth,” Boparai said. “We are paying right now ourselves, then we’ll see.”
Boparai’s arrival in town on Dec. 9 came immediately before a related civil court date in Edmonton. Town councillors passed a motion to file a court order for the clean-up of the lot following their Nov. 5 closed session meeting, scheduled to be seen in court Dec. 10.
CAO Rachel Ramey said the matter was adjourned until Dec. 19, when a ruling was made. Though she had not received an official copy of the court order prior to publication, Ramey said Boparai has been ordered to erect a different safety fence to better secure the site by Jan. 17.
Ramey said she was told the order also includes instructions for the site clean-up and back-fill to be completed by April 30.
Boparai was interviewed prior to the second court date, but did say he wasn’t worried about the ruling.
“We will deal with it, no problem.”
Though Boparai said final plans for the future are on hold until the insurance is sorted, he said he does have plans to redevelop the site.
“We have really high hopes to build up something here,” he said. “We love this place, we’ve been here since 2012.”
‘Nothing else to go on’
While progress on the physical aftermath of the fire is being made, Athabasca RCMP Staff Sgt. Mark Hall said the investigation is at a standstill and the detachment has “nothing else to go on.”
RCMP have confirmed the investigation was listed as arson, and said in August multiple avenues of investigations were being pursued. Hall noted a number of people of special interest were looked at, but efforts to uncover sufficient evidence for charges and potential convictions were unsuccessful.
Hall did add that fire investigators were able to determine the blaze started in the west side of the basement, but said no ignition source was clearly identified.
While the file remains open, the investigation is not active, and will only be restarted if new information comes to light.
