A security guard stands watch 24 hours a day, seven days a week, over the old Riverside Elementary School after a fire was deliberately set late last year.
Riverside Elementary, at 7855 Meadow Ave. in south Burnaby, was closed in 1982 after a decline in enrolment in the area. Until a few years ago, the district was renting the facility to a private school, but when that agreement ended the school became a storage facility for equipment, furniture and supplies, according to Greg Frank, secretary-treasurer of the Burnaby school district.
"The site has also been used by the district for training purposes," Frank wrote in an email to the NOW.
The school site remained relatively undisturbed until Oct. 12 when the Burnaby Fire Department was alerted by the school district that a fire had broken out inside the building.
"(Firefighters) obtained keys for the front of the building from a security guard, (and the) door was opened," said assistant fire chief Greg Mervin.
The fire, which was relatively small, started in one of the rooms inside the old school and fire crews were able to contain it to that area quickly, Mervin added.
"It was suspicious ... but I don't have anything, like no cause or anything," he said.
Both the Burnaby RCMP and fire officials told the NOW they have been called on several occasions to the Riverside neighbourhood, by residents of the quiet, farming community, but most of the calls end up being false alarms.
According to Frank, the district is aware that squatters may be living in the area and possibly using the school as shelter.
"We are aware that homeless people may be present in the surrounding area and occasionally may enter our site," Frank said in his email.
According to Lou Pelletier, director of planning and building for the City of Burnaby, the school site is currently “under the jurisdiction, control and occupancy” of the school district, but the property itself is actually owned by the city. Eventually, when the district no longer needs the site, it will be reclaimed by the city.
“Should the school district conclude its use of the property, it would return to the city as part of our open space and parklands,” Pelletier said in an email.
Pelletier said he was not at liberty to discuss what type of financial arrangement the city has with the district concerning the Riverside property.
For now, the site remains under the 24-hour supervision of a security guard and will stay that way until power is restored to the site and security systems can be restored, Frank said.
"The additional security on site is temporary as we work through details and options with our insurance provider. The site will eventually be reclaimed by the city of Burnaby for other purposes," he added.
