Three-alarm blaze guts warehouse in Vancouver
Posted January 27, 2013 10:43 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It took several hours for Vancouver Fire crews to get a three-alarm blaze under control this morning. Flames broke out just after 6 a.m. at the North-west Produce warehouse on Terminal Avenue near Carolina Street. The building is very large and two-storeys.
“The fire is under control and there is no danger to anyone. It is a surrounded ground, as we would call it, so we are just applying water to wait for possibly a back how to come in and will collapse it on itself,” says Battalion Fire Chief Randy Hebenton.
Initially, they tackled it from inside but then it got too dangerous and ended up hosing it down from the street. “When we’re fighting from the exterior, it’s not a difficult fire to manage. It’s frustrating to us because we like to get in and try to find the seed of the fire but when the fire gets to this magnitude, the safest thing is to do is to surround it.”
But there was a challenge because behind the building was a car lot with more than 100 brand new vehicles. Tow trucks were brought in but not all of them were removed. Some of the cars were damaged in the towing process.
There were roughly 40 firefighters called out to the scene. Luckily, there were no injuries because the building was empty, however the building is known to house squatters. It’s unclear how the fire started, but investigators are expected to spend the day there.
“We’ve written the building off as a loss. There’s no way the building in the interior, you can’t really see it but the building inside is completely gutted. It’s just the exterior walls, and now our biggest concern is what is called collapsed zones. We’re worried about the building falling out on our people.”
Witnesses say it was the biggest fire they’ve ever seen. “This is one of the largest ones I’ve seen. There was one on Main and Broadway and that was pretty spectacular, but I think there just keeping this one under control and just making sure the building doesn’t collapse,” said Dave.
Lynn added, “Watching these guys in action is pretty impressive. It’s nice to know you’ve got people working behind you.”
