The Kamloops Fire Chief says its now up to mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson to collect a burnt-out vehicle that was towed from his West Victoria Street car lot last Thursday.

Ken Uzeloc says he did not single out the mayor or his business – who is now responsible to pay those costs – after the Fire Chief ordered the vehicle to be towed because of safety concerns.

“We had had two fires in the car,” Uzeloc told Radio NL.

“We had evidence of people trying to shelter or live in the car, even after it had been tarped and attempted to be secured there, and so it was requested that the property owner remove it, because we did see it as a fire hazard.”

The vehicle caught fire in October last year shortly after Hamer-Jackson was elected mayor, and again in October this year.

“As it gets colder, we know that people start fires in their tents and if they are sheltering in that car, it would just be a natural that they would look to start a fire and keep warm and we didn’t want that happening,” Uzeloc added.

“It was requested that the property owner remove the vehicle. They would not, so we requested it again, and they still would not. So, I wrote an order to have it removed as a fire hazard.”

Uzeloc says that written order – which came with a 48-hour window to move the vehicle- was delivered to Hamer-Jackson last Monday. After the mayor refused, Uzeloc says the vehicle was towed on Thursday.

“The process is in place, and its the same process for any person, any property or business owner, that would be in a similar situation,” Uzeloc said. “Even if you take 91 Seymour right now, they are going to get told they have to make it safe, so part of removing that hazard is going to be to have to demolish that building.”

Speaking to Castanet, Hamer-Jackson said he defied Uzeloc’s order as his licence allows him to store wrecks on his property.

“If I had 50 vehicles on my lot, I guess they could all be hazards, really, because in reality I can buy and sell wrecks,” Hamer-Jackson was quoted as saying. “But I put the cover on it. There’s covers over vehicles, RVs, boats, everything all over the city and I don’t know how you deem them all a hazard.”

“I am paying taxes on a piece of property downtown where I have a car lot, and I should be able to park wrecked vehicles there.”

Hamer-Jackson – who campaigned on accountability for shelters, most notably those across his property along West Victoria Street – is also quoted as saying the city is “wasting its time” by focusing on the burnt-out SUV.

“The vehicle is not the problem,” he said. “They have 800 emergency calls across the street [at West Victoria Street shelters] — you might want to look at that a little more.”

Uzeloc says the city will hold onto the burnt-out vehicle for a while so the mayor can pick it up and pay the costs of towing and storage, as laid out in local bylaws.

“If its not claimed, the city will pay the charges and we have the method under the bylaw to then attach any fees owing to the city on to the property tax roll,” Uzeloc said.

“Right now its whatever a tow is so I’m assuming a couple hundred dollars, and then the towing company had a daily fee for how long its kept in their lot. I don’t know what that is. We’re just working on the letter that will be sent to the property owner to let them know how long they’ve got to claim it.”