Vancouver fire crews battle third blaze of the day Thursday afternoon

Thursday was a busy day for Vancouver Fire Rescue Services, as crews were called out for three different fires in the afternoon.

Vancouver Fire received reports of an apartment fire on Homer Street near Robson Street in downtown Vancouver around 4 p.m. When they arrived, they found a fire that had started in the oven in a unit on the 17th floor.

No injuries were reported related to this latest incident.

“Crews managed to get to the suite very quickly,” assistant fire chief Walter Pereira told CityNews. “They extinguished and shut off the gas.”

As of just before 5 p.m., Pereira said fire investigators were on their way and some crews were still on the scene but weren’t expected to stay much longer.

“So fairly routine sort of call,” he said.

As for the other fires, one person was sent to hospital with burns and smoke inhalation after a fire in a building on Richards Street near Nelson Street earlier in the afternoon. In the second case, a fire broke out at UBC’s Westbook Mall, where a lab reportedly caught fire. No injuries were reported in that call, but the lab had water damage.

While three fires in one day doesn’t happen often, Pereira says it isn’t unheard of.

“That happens sometimes, you know, you just get one of these days,” he said.

“I’m not going to lie to you — I’m going to just knock on some wood right now and have this nonsense stop, if the truth be told, but the crews have done an amazing job today. They’ve had like three calls that could have been worse than what they were if it wasn’t for their quick action.”

Pereira says none of the fires are believed to be related.