Vancouver Club suing B.C. Hydro seeking damages for 2023 underground vault fire

The Vancouver Club has filed a lawsuit against B.C. Hydro seeking damages it says were caused by an underground electrical-vault fire, a risk the utility said it knew about for years and failed to repair.

The networking club for the city’s business and legal eleite said the “significant” damage forced it to close for an undisclosed period of time and cancel revenue-generating events after the fire in 2023, according to the lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court.

The damage “was caused or contributed to by negligence, gross negligence, breach of duty and/or nuisance committed by B.C. Hydro,” the lawsuit alleges.

Among the damages sought includes the cost of emergency and permanent repairs, loss of use of the club and revenue from services provided to members and the public, the investigation of the damage, increased operating costs, and a decrease in value of the building, it said.

“B.C. Hydro was expressly aware of the particular and special risk of the vault and the risk of fire and explosion” and failed to take “reasonable steps to alleviate or eliminate the risk of fire or exploding,” according to the claim.

Weeks after the explosion, which burned the hands and face of two bystanders and damaged a JJ Beans coffee shop in the nearby Marine Building, B.C. Hydro’s boss admitted it had known for years before the Feb. 24, 2023 fire of the risk and said the utility was taking action to prevent it from happening again.

Hydro CEO Chris O’Riley said a 2016 assessment classified 14 vaults as being at a high risk of harming or killing someone without maintenance. Many of them were replaced, but not the one at Burrard and Cordova streets.

None of the allegations in the claim have been proven in court. Neither B.C. Hydro nor the Vancouver Club returned a request for comment.

slazaruk@postmedia.com