Jaw-dropping incident caught on camera 'had the potential for serious injury'

We’re learning new details about the collapse of an excavated shoring retention wall last week in Coquitlam, British Columbia, which documents show “had the potential for serious injury.”

Fortunately, nobody was hurt during the collapse which was caught on camera and shared on social media.

Catastrophic failure at County Green construction site North Rd. Coquitlam. _ Vancouver from Key Media on Vimeo.

Canadian Occupational Safety received inspection reports from WorkSafeBC which outline in detail how the collapse unfolded.

A problem was first spotted around 11:00 am on Wednesday November 29, when a worker from the employer, Vancouver Shotcrete & Shoring Inc., noticed some pebbles falling from the northwest face of the wall.

The worker contacted the prime contractor, Amacon Construction Ltd., and the area was evacuated. The engineer from Geopacific Consultants Ltd. was notified and asked to attend the site.

By about 1:30 pm a crack had formed in the middle of the wall. “The prime contractor, with the assistance of the traffic control persons from Green Country Excavating Ltd. (who were performing civil contracting work on the east side of the property along Whiting Way), closed Foster Avenue to all vehicle and pedestrian traffic,” reads the WorkSafeBC inspection report.

The City of Coquitlam was notified and so was FortisBC and BC Hydro because there were underground utilities that could be at risk.

At about 4:45 pm the wall collapsed. An overnight road closure around the area was put in place and an overnight watch was arranged.

When the WorkSafeBC inspector returned to the site on Thursday November 30, “the excavated wall had continued to collapse overnight. A rock slinger truck was on site pouring gravel into the excavation in preparation to backfill the excavation at 1 vertical to 1 horizontal in the affected area as per the instructions of the engineer. No workers are permitted to be in the excavation.”

WorkSafeBC has not issued any orders, but it has requested Vancouver Shotcrete and Shoring provide the following documents.

“This employer was also informed without delay to conduct a preliminary incident investigation within 48 hours of the incident and to complete a full incident investigation within 30 days of the incident and provide a written copy to WorkSafeBC once completed but not later than December 29, 2023,” reads the report.

Canadian Occupational Safety reached out to Vancouver Shotcrete and Shoring, but requests for comment have gone unanswered. The company’s website lists Caleb Christensen as the health and safety manager, but an email sent to the address listed bounced back, with a message reading “Caleb is no longer with Vancouver Shotcrete.”

Following the incident, Amacon issued a statement saying all the required permits were attained, vetted and monitored by the geotechnical and engineering consultants.

Engineers and Geoscientists B.C. is the regulator overseeing the engineering and geoscience professions in the province. It is conducting its own investigation.

'Here she goes' man yells and screams 'everybody off' as wall falls apart

A shocking scene unfolded Wednesday afternoon at a construction site in Coquitlam, British Columbia and it was all captured on video. Before you press play, know that nobody was hurt.

A man yells “here she goes!” off camera as the shoring retention wall collapses, followed by a “holy f***” and he then screams “everybody off.” The footage shows cracks forming in the shoring retention wall, followed by a section of the wall breaking away and tumbling several stories into an excavation site, triggering a surge of soil behind it.

The incident prompted responses from WorkSafeBC, the City of Coquitlam, the developer Amacon, and Engineers and Geoscientists B.C. which is the regulator overseeing the engineering and geoscience professions in the province.

“At this stage, we are gathering information to inform our understanding of what happened,” reads a statement sent to Canadian Occupational Safety from Engineers and Geoscientists B.C. “It is too early to speculate on potential regulatory actions or involvement that may be required.”

Amacon issued a statement, as reported by CTV News Vancouver, saying, “all work on site had attained the required permits, and thoroughly vetted and monitored by the geotechnical and engineering consultants…Thankfully, no injuries have occurred."

The also says the incident created a "cavity in the soil in the area adjacent to the property," but says there does not appear to have been any "immediate infrastructure damage."

In a statement posted online, the City of Coquitlam says it was made aware the shoring wall was beginning to fail before it fully collapsed. It took precautions, closing roads in the area.

“WorkSafe BC also attended the site to inspect the incident,” reads the statement. “They have allowed work on the site to continue under the supervision of the site’s geotechnical engineer to stabilize the wall.”

Emergency repair work began immediately, and the city confirmed traffic will be restricted in the area for an indeterminate period. The repair efforts, which are expected to span several days, have necessitated overnight work, prompting apologies to area residents for any inconvenience caused.

As investigations continue into the collapse of the shoring retention wall, both local authorities and regulatory bodies remain focused on safety and ensuring a thorough understanding of the incident's causes.

As puffs of smoke rise from a fire inside a kʷikʷəƛəm (Kwikwetlem) big house, middle school student Elsa Romey reaches over to help her twin sister Maya turn soft cedar wood into a box with an inlay-carved lid.

"This is a bentwood box," she tells CBC News. "You can store stuff in it."

"Important stuff," Maya adds. "Things that have meaning to you."

On this day, their class is busy placing cedar bark they collected in the forest into the boxes they made. Elsa explains the soft bark can be used for everything from multi-coloured blankets to hats and weavings.

Outside the big house, two cedar welcoming figures tower amid a landscape of trees, mountains, and rivers teeming with salmon.

But the Romey twins and their classmates can't smell the fragrant cedar planks of the building, nor feel the warmth of its central fire, nor hear the calls of the eagles soaring outside.

They are actually inside a classroom at École Montgomery Middle School in Coquitlam, B.C., playing the immensely popular video game Minecraft.

WATCH | B.C. teens show off their Indigenous cedar box-making skills — in Minecraft:

5 months ago

Duration 1:30

Twin sisters Elsa and Maya Romey demonstrate how their peers at École Montgomery Middle School in Coquitlam, B.C., are learning about the local kʷikʷəƛəm First Nation's culture and history, thanks to a new immersive world within the popular video game Minecraft.

The digital Indigenous environment is the creation of School District 43, which teamed up with kʷikʷəƛəm First Nation educators to develop an area within the game to learn about the First Nation's culture and history.

"You go like this, then you drag it around," Elsa explains as she taps buttons on the laptop touchscreen. "These hardest tasks would be very useful to do in a group.

"It's a really fun way to learn for people who don't want to just sit in class and read about First Nations."

The best-selling game Minecraft allows multiple players to create structures, objects and characters using clusters of digital blocks within a deliberately pixelated, three-dimensional environment.

That popularity of the game among students is being tapped by schools in Coquitlam, located just east of Vancouver, to create an immersive and co-operative space for Indigenous storytelling in local classrooms.

But while the existing Minecraft world has trees, mountains, fish and birds, some of the most important items for many B.C. Indigenous cultures were missing, such as Western red cedar.

So those developing the new world — called A Pacific NorthWest Coast Experience — enlisted help from Microsoft, which owns Minecraft, to add the iconic species. The world also features red-and-green sockeye salmon spawning in rivers.

A Pacific NorthWest Coast Experience is the first of nearly a dozen Indigenous-created worlds in the works, school officials said.

'It's amazingly done'

John Peters, an elected councillor with kʷikʷəƛəm First Nation, first started playing Minecraft as a way to connect with his son, who is on the autism spectrum.

"This is just the welcoming post or the house post. This is a big house. It's amazingly done," he tells CBC News as the game appears on a large screen behind him.

"Seeing something like Minecraft that incorporates the teachings of kʷikʷəƛəm First Nation is just simply amazing," Peters added. "I'm actually so excited that I can't wait to have my turn with my sons on this game."

Teachers across B.C. have already been using Minecraft Education, a school-appropriate version of the world-building game, for several years for a number of topics.

WATCH | B.C. school uses Minecraft to teach Indigenous heritage:

5 months ago

Duration 2:51

The kʷikʷəƛəm First Nation, School District 43 and Microsoft have teamed up to create a new Minecraft world for Indigenous storytelling in the classroom. Our Maurice Katz visited École Montgomery Middle School, where Indigenous classes are being taught using the popular video game.

Rob Cowie, School District 43's Indigenous education resource teacher, says using a popular game to integrate Indigenous knowledge and perspectives into the classroom made sense.

"We have this wonderful tool called Minecraft," recalled Cowie. "Can we find a way to use that to help with Indigenous storytelling here in our territory?

"I thought, what a wonderful idea, and it just grew from there."

Cowie said the district's requests for local modifications to the world were eagerly received by the game's creators.

"We have to have cedar — it is the heart of the whole community here on the West Coast," he said. "They were gracious enough to actually rename and re-skin certain trees that were in the game so that we could have cedar.

"We didn't have bears, [Minecraft] had polar bears, but not bears in the Lower Mainland."

While Minecraft is normally a world of almost limitless possibilities to collect resources for world-building, the kʷikʷəƛəm version sets unique limits — for instance how many salmon players can harvest.

"We're only allowed to catch one," Montgomery student Ara Bella explained. "We want to be resourceful and not waste food."

For Elsa Romey, the game has been a chance to make her curriculum more engaging — and collaborate on challenges with her peers.

"We learned a lot through this, because it was really fun and we worked together," she said. "Since we're co-operating, it makes it easier."

Teachers and students who have been displaced by a fire that destroyed Hazel Trembath Elementary School in Port Coquitlam, B.C. will be relocated to another building in the district.

The school — which was first built in the 1970s in the suburb of roughly 60,000 residents east of Vancouver— was consumed by a blaze in the early hours of Saturday morning. Authorities have deemed the fire suspicious.

More than 300 children attend the school, including Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West's child. West himself is an alumnus of the school, which is located on Confederation Drive.

The chair of the local school board says that the students will be kept together and moved to Winslow Centre in Coquitlam by the middle of this week as a short-term solution.

"We're going to rally behind the school, we're going to rally behind our students, and we're going to put our kids first," said Michael Thomas, an elected trustee from Port Coquitlam for School District 43.

"We're going to make sure they have what they need to feel safe, secure in their classes, in school."

The Winslow Centre is a former high school that is now a school district facility.

Thomas said it has already hosted other students displaced by a much smaller fire several years ago.

District sets up fundraiser

In a statement, the chair of the Hazel Trembath Elementary Parents' Advisory Council said that she wanted to thank the Port Coquitlam community for their outpouring of support after the devastating fire.

"Hazel Trembath was not only a building but our second home," Naomi Kato said. "In the coming days, we will have a clearer idea on how we will be utilizing support for our school community."

The district has already set up an online fundraiser, supporting the SD43 Foundation, that aims to help families whose children attend the school.

In addition, the City of Port Coquitlam has opened up the Port Coquitlam Community Centre to accept school supplies and other donations.

"We've had a number of retired teachers reach out and say, 'I still have these teaching kits from when I was a teacher ... how can I help?'" Thomas said. "The city is doing amazing. They've stepped up."

Looking for answers

The board chair says that Hazel Trembath will "obviously" be rebuilt, and the school district has already reached out to the Ministry of Education to get the capital funding required.

"I absolutely want to thank our first responders — PoCo Fire in particular — for gallantly fighting the fire [in] our little community gem Hazel Trembath Elementary," Thomas said.

B.C. Education and Child Care Minister Rachna Singh said in a Saturday post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the ministry "will support [the] school district, parents and students through this difficult time."

Continuing learning for students and supporting families and staff impacted by the fire is the ministry's "current priority," according to a Sunday emailed statement to CBC News.

Coquitlam RCMP have asked the public to stay away from the area this weekend due to "potentially hazardous air quality," which the RCMP said could last several days.

Mounties say anyone with video of the incident, or who noticed anything suspicious between 9 p.m. on Friday and 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, to contact investigators.

"Police are asking anyone who may have information regarding the fire, who have not spoken to our officers to contact the Coquitlam RCMP at 604-945-1550," said Sgt. Karrie Ellis in a statement, which asks that the public quote file number 2023-27725.

Around 100 people have been put up in temporary accommodations after a fire tore through their rental apartment complex in Coquitlam, B.C., but it is still unclear when and if they will ever be able to return. As Joel Ballard reports, some residents say they have nowhere else to go.

Around 100 people have been set up in temporary accommodations after fire tore through a rental apartment complex in Coquitlam, B.C., on Thursday morning.

Residents on Friday recalled the harrowing fire and wondered what may come next.

Zeinab Mohseni and her family lived above the unit where the fire started early Thursday morning.

She said she looked outside her window and saw "smoke from underground and it was really scary,"

Mohseni and her husband left with their children, banging on the doors of neighbours as they fled.

"I started to scream loudly, 'Get out, get out, run, it's a fire,'" she said.

Landon Phillips said he didn't think there was an actual fire as there have been false alarms in the past. Then, "he heard people panicking."

"I looked outside the window and the flames [were] bursting up," he said.

WATCH | Around 100 people displaced after Coquitlam apartment fire:

2 months ago

Duration 2:05

Around 100 people have been displaced after a large apartment fire in Coquitlam during the early hours of March 7. Fire crews say flames were climbing from floor to floor. As Joel Ballard reports, it’s unclear when and if residents will be able to return home.

He knew he had to get out, but not before calling a couple in the building, Tanya Carr and Eugene Tolander.

"This guy is our guardian angel right here," Carr said of Phillips. "He phoned us and got us awake and got us out before the smoke took us over."

By the time firefighters arrived, four units were already engulfed in flames.

Tolander and Carr lived near those units and had slept through the alarm. Tolander says there was smoke in their unit and he and Carr frantically grabbed some items and left.

He said he is grateful for their neighbour's composure amid the chaos.

"If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have woken up," he said.

"And if we had woken up, with all that smoke, forget it, we probably wouldn't have made it out. So thank you, Landon. You saved my life."

'Some of us have lost everything'

The building's residents have been forced to leave with help from the City of Coquitlam's emergency support services.

Residents have been provided clothing, food, daily essentials and temporary shelter at hotels around Metro Vancouver. Their accommodations are covered for six days.

In a statement, the City of Coquitlam confirmed around 100 residents were displaced by Thursday's fire. Many units were undamaged thanks to fire walls in the building.

"Pending engineering, safety and air quality assessments, we're hopeful that most residents will be back in their units soon," the statement said.

Phillips said some in the building are facing an uncertain future.

"Some of us have lost everything," Phillips said. "It's not good. And with housing prices the way they are, it's no joke. Some of us are capitally screwed. Where are we going to go?"

Mohseni's unit has been destroyed. The trauma, she says, is still fresh.

"We are so worried because I don't think that we can afford, with this expensive rent, to find any place," she said.