Massive fire destroys Langley restaurant; excavators work to take down remains of building
Posted October 5, 2024 10:19 am.
Last Updated October 5, 2024 6:45 pm.
A raging fire tore through Viva Mexico restaurant at 20559 Fraser Highway in downtown Langley City Saturday, completely destroying the building.
Excavators started working to take down the remains of the structure around 2 p.m.
Fire crews continue to battle a raging fire at a restaurant in downtown Langley City. (Submitted: Joere Estremadura)
As of noon Saturday, the building had partially collapsed. Crews were attacking the blaze from all sides.
Fire crews battle a raging fire at a restaurant in downtown Langley City. (Dean Recksiedler/1130 NewsImage)
City of Langley Fire Department Chief Scott Kennedy tells 1130 NewsRadio crews were called to the building shortly after 6:30 a.m. after a report of a small exterior fire.
On arrival, they found light smoke coming from various parts of the building but then located a “fairly significant fire” inside the building.
“My understanding is this may have started in sort of the back of the restaurant,” Kennedy said.
“That’s where we have found a large volume of fire. I can’t confirm that that was a starting point, because we still got to get in and do some investigations, but I can confirm that there was a large volume of fire in that area.”
Kennedy says the partial collapse of the building forced fire crews to move back for safety.
“We have had several localized collapses, as we call them, due to the extent of the damage in there from the fire and the extent of the fire traveling through,” he said.
“We made the decision to pull the crews out and set up what we call a defensive role for exactly what happened. As it’s gone through, it becomes structural damage, it’s a structure, it’s an older building, and it collapses.”
He said he expects crews will be on scene for much of the day.
“Probably in the afternoon, once we get a little bit more of a handle on it, we’ll probably start taking down part of the building … and then crews will be on scene dealing with that for the next several hours,” he said.
Kennedy says there were a number of crews on scene — enough to be able to rotate them to keep them fresh.
“We have our career staff that was on duty this morning. We called in our fleet on-call staff. We’ve done what we call a full career call back, so we asked our career members to come back, and then we’ve invited our neighbors from Langley Township, who graciously came in and bought resources as well, and apparatus,” he said.
The Langley RCMP blocked off a section of the roadway, and there are concerns the smoke contains toxic chemicals including asbestos.
“So we have a number of dedicated RCMP members here who are making the very unpopular decision of going around and telling people that they need to move back, but it is for their own safety,” Kennedy said.
“And people want to see what’s going on, and we understand that, but we want to keep them safe as well.”
Residents in the area are urged to keep their windows and doors closed and wear a face mask outdoors.
The fire sent a large plume of thick black smoke into the skies above Langley. Callers to 1130 News Radio reported seeing haze as far as South Surrey.
There’s no word yet on how the fire started.
The restaurant shared a somber post on Instagram, saying, “We are going through a very difficult time. We want to sincerely thank you for your support, kind words, and solidarity during this painful moment. Your messages give us strength and hope.”
Many other nearby restaurants posted words of support to social media as well.
With files from Dean Recksiedler, Angelyna Mintz, Cole Schisler, and Maria Vinca.
