A city inspector has testified she had numerous concerns about the conditions at an East Vancouver boarding house before a fatal fire broke out last year, leaving three people dead.

Garland McKay, Dwayne Rasmussen and Stephen Yellowquill died of smoke inhalation in the fire at the illegal rooming house on Pandora Street on Dec. 22, 2010.

Pamela Kiselbach testified at a coroner’s inquest underway in Vancouver on Tuesday she repeatedly inspected the property between April 2007 and November 2010.

She told the inquest there were numerous problems, including the building’s illegal use as a rooming house, lack of a business permit, debris in the yard and illegal padlocks on bedrooms.

She testified the owner would comply with repair orders only when threatened with prosecution, and even then only minimal repairs were made.

“She would fix them but it was always like it was a pain in her side,” Kiselbach said.

In June 2010, Kiselbach said the city conducted a coordinated inspection with a laundry list of repairs, including installing smoke detectors.

The owner was told the building would have to be vacated if the repairs were not made by October 31, 2010. The changes hadn’t been made by November, however, and the building was not vacated.

When asked what she thought when she heard about the fire, Kiselbach was visibly upset.

“I was devastated,” she told the inquiry.

When asked if she was surprised, Kiselbach responded: “I don’t know how to answer that. I never thought a fire would happen.”

Kiselbach added that she would have intervened had she seen anything she thought was a fire hazard, saying she knew all three victims.

Carlene Robbins, whose departure from the City of Vancouver is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit, also testified Tuesday.

Robbins, who was the long-term manager of the city’s inspections enforcement branch, told the jury the Pandora Street house was a problem for years.

Robbins said the owner made it clear in a meeting with city staff that she wasn’t willing to spend any money to fix up the dilapidated house.

The city wanted to cut power to the house to force compliance, Robbins said, but had no grounds to do so.

She told the inquest the city order to comply or vacate the premises issued seven weeks before the fire was really just an idle threat.

On Monday, the inquest heard the fire was started by a faulty extension cord attached to Christmas tree lights, and the home’s wiring system was not directly at fault.