Resident of Vancouver's Winters Hotel missing a month after fire

Photo: Brendan Kergin

A resident of the Winters Hotel in Gastown is missing in May 2022. The Vancouver Police Department has confirmed that Dennis Guay was reported missing April 26 - two weeks after the fatal blaze.

An individual has been reported missing from a single-room-occupancy (SRO) residence in Gastown following a tragic fire that claimed the lives of two people.

The four-alarm fire broke out on April 11 and Winters Hotel resident Dennis Guay was reported missing on April 26, according to the Vancouver Police Department (VPD).

The fire was deemed accidental and likely sparked by unattended candles in a second-floor unit, according to Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services' (VFRS) preliminary investigation. Findings of the preliminary investigation were released April 21.

After demolition got underway, two bodies were found in the rubble, officials confirmed April 22.

When asked if Guay could have died in the fire, VPD spokesperson Cst. Tania Visintin told Vancouver Is Awesome that an investigation is still active and ongoing.

"We are waiting for the ID of the second body found before we can confirm who it is," she said in an email.

Janice Abbott, CEO of Atira Women's Resource Society and Atira Property Management, told V.I.A. that she doesn't have any additional information about Guay's whereabouts.

"We have not seen him," she said. "In the absence of information or updates from anybody, we remain hopeful that he will be located."

Firefighters rescued six people from the burning building, which also contained seven businesses on the ground floor.