Richmond house damaged by morning fire, crews say

Fire crews were called to Richmond early Thursday morning after a house went up in flames.

According to Richmond Fire-Rescue Chief Jim Wishlove, crews were called to the area of Cambie and No. 5 roads around 2:30 a.m.

“Upon arrival, crews, of course, found that the house was fully involved, and upgraded it to a full first alarm and we had several units attend and begin firefighting operations,” he said.

The blaze was under control by about 7:30 a.m., Wishlove added.

“Our crews on scene report the fire is completely out and that they’re just cleaning up,” he said.

Wishlove explains that the challenges the province is seeing with fires breaking out aren’t just contained to outlier or rural areas, as the majority of the province is seeing hot temperatures and dry conditions.

“We’re seeing all across the province significant wildfires and a lot of fire activity. And due to the high temperatures and the extremely tender dry conditions everywhere in the province, [we’re seeing fires] especially in our city here as well,” he said.

“We’re very concerned about these types of fires or any fires that would cause even greater damage or some injuries.”

He says no injuries have been reported, and the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

“We treat all fires both as suspicious and accidental until we rule that out. And then once we determine the complete cause and where the origin was, we use that in our public outreach and prevention messaging in order to help other property owners in the area not have the same impact,” Wishlove said.

Wishlove is asking people to stay vigilant and to keep reporting suspected fires.

“I want to say thanks very much to the public for calling this one in this morning, and if anybody out there sees any smoke or smells, any smoke has a thought that something seems a little bit even, out of the ordinary, please call 911.”