Downtown Calgary businesses raise alarm over alley and dumpster fires as safety concerns grow

Businesses in downtown Calgary say a string of alley and dumpster fires is raising safety concerns for staff.

Downtown Calgary business owners say a recent string of alley and dumpster fires is raising concerns about safety for staff, customers and neighbouring properties, with some warning the incidents are becoming a troubling pattern in the city’s core.

In recent weeks, businesses along Stephen Avenue and nearby blocks have reported fires in back alleys, behind commercial buildings and near railway tracks.

Owners say the incidents have caused smoke damage, damaged property and disrupted daily operations.

At BottleScrew Bill’s Pub, general manager Geoff Allan said a fire broke out behind the business at about 5:30 a.m. on April 19.

“A raging five-alarm fire at 5:30 in the morning time is not safe or appropriate,” Allan said.

He said the incident was captured on surveillance video and was not isolated.

“This is the third time in probably a year-and-a-half that these bins have been fully set ablaze,” he said.

“It’s not someone trying to stay warm. They come in, they light the cardboard on fire, wait for them to go up, and then they walk away.”

At Annabelle’s Kitchen, owner Leslie Echino said smoke from a fire this week also drifted into her restaurant and neighbouring businesses.

“These are not isolated incidents. It happens quite frequently down the alley,” Echino said.

She said a smouldering fire behind Downtown Drug Mart had apparently burned for hours before being discovered.

“They tried to light it on fire, and it smoldered for about 24 hours and smoked them out, it smoked the FinePrint business nearby and there was smoke in my building,” she said.

Hanif Mulgi, owner of Downtown Drug Mart, said the recent fire also damaged part of his property.

“A few days ago, they decided to warm themselves up by lighting a fire, and they burnt a bunch of wood outside our place,” he said.

“That was pretty horrifying, because I thank God there were no casualties or there was nobody hurt. But something like this can cause harm to anybody.”

Fire department tracks hundreds of outdoor rubbish fires

The recent incidents come as the Calgary Fire Department says 262 outside rubbish fires have been recorded so far in 2026.

Last year, 715 outside rubbish fire incidents were reported to fire crews and on average firefighters respond to 37 outside rubbish fires each month.

Fire officials say inner-city neighbourhoods in the Beltline and downtown core continue to see the highest number of outdoor rubbish fires.

“Overall, outdoor rubbish fires in Calgary peaked in 2023 after increasing since 2020, concurrent to growth in other incidents downtown,” the department said in information provided to CTV News.

The department said outdoor fires tend to follow a seasonal pattern, with volumes rising in spring, peaking in fall - particularly in October - and decreasing during late summer.

Calgary fire officials also said unhoused Calgarians are sometimes affected by these incidents.

The department adds that it works with bylaw officers, Alpha House and other agencies on fire prevention and support.

Business owners say safety concerns are growing

Allan said there have also been multiple fires near the CPKC tracks behind BottleScrew Bill’s.

“We’ve had separate fires on the CPKC tracks behind our buildings and it’s happened three times in the last six weeks,” he said.

He said staff have at times had to act even before help arrives.

“The staff have been able to access the area with our own fire extinguishers and try to put it out before the fire department gets here,” Allan said.

“But that’s not something typically that they should be doing.”

He said the repeated incidents have left many customers and workers frustrated.

“We’re getting pretty angry and upset about the lack of interest and focus that we’re getting from people that could help us and help stop this kind of activity in the neighbourhood,” he said.

Echino also notes that many of her employees arrive early in the morning or leave late at night, adding that the alley behind her business on Stephen Avenue lacks adequate lighting.

“One of the biggest things is where is the safety? Where is the security? Where’s the lighting in this alley?” she said.

“A lot of women work for me, and they’re leaving at 10 or 11:00 at night and no they don’t feel safe. That’s a fact.”

Mulgi, who said he has operated Downtown Drug Mart for 38 years also said he has noticed conditions worsening.

“This has been going for a long time, but I have noticed an increase in the last few years, no question about it,” he said.

He said support for vulnerable people and public safety must both be part of the response.

“These people do need help,” Mulgi said. “But at the same time, we need to protect our citizens and our businesses as well.”

Firefighters warn small fires can spread quickly

Jamie Blaney, president of the Calgary Firefighters Association, said even small alley fires can quickly become more dangerous.

“These fires can escalate very fast, often turning a small dumpster fire into a building fire, which puts people and our members at risk,” Blaney said.

“In all these instances, seconds matter. These fires grow exponentially, and we don’t want to see people get hurt.”

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Blaney said one of the most immediate prevention measures is reducing combustible material in alleys.

“The first prevention thing is to remove those materials,” he said.

“We just want business owners to be diligent and keep those materials out of alleyways.”

Downtown association points to alley initiative

The Calgary Downtown Association says it has already taken steps aimed at reducing fire risks.

“Close to a year ago, we removed more than two dozen bins from downtown alleyways as part of our Green Alley project,” said Andrew Doudican, the association’s director of urban strategy.

“This was an intentional decision to create safer alleys for the people who live, work, and play downtown.”

Doudican said the association has also encouraged businesses to remove flammable materials.

“As part of this work, we’ve recommended local businesses remove pallets or easily flammable materials from their alleys,” he said.

“While it’s unfortunate that incidents do happen in a city of close to two million, we’ve been pleased at the reduction in frequency of occurrences since removing bins.”

Echino however said she has not seen improvement.

“I feel like it’s had zero to no effect,” she said.

“It’s actually made this alley dirtier. If you can look down the alley right now and you see stacks of pallets everywhere and these fires are still being started.”

City says work is continuing

Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson said work is continuing to address safety issues in the downtown core.

“The Calgary Downtown Association has been leading some great initiatives to clean up some of our alleys, removing some dumpsters and making sure that there aren’t as many fire prone spaces within the downtown,” Atkinson said.

“We’re not done with that work.”

Atkinson notes that improving safety remains part of the broader downtown revitalization effort.

“The transformation of downtown is something that we’ve been working on, and we just need to stay the course, continuing to make sure that we provide better safety, better lighting, removing the problem spots where we are seeing this social disorder,” he said.

For business owners coping with repeated fires though, many say they want more immediate results.

“We’d like to see some results or hear that someone’s arrested or at least that they’re trying,” Allan said.

“So far, we have a police case file number and that’s about it.”