Cause of Olympic Village fire in Vancouver suspicious: VFRS
Posted July 26, 2023 3:33 pm.
Last Updated July 26, 2023 3:47 pm.
A large fire that broke out at a warehouse in Vancouver’s Olympic Village Tuesday night is being considered suspicious.
According to Vancouver Fire Rescue Services, crews were called to the area of West 1st Avenue and Cook Street just before 10 p.m.
“Upon arrival, crews were met with smoke and flames from a detached building. Crews did get water on the fire quickly to contain it into an area but the building has suffered some significant damage,” Capt. Matthew Trudeau explained Wednesday.
“Right now, because of the nature of the building being unoccupied and in the area that it was in, the fire investigators have determined that it’s suspicious … It’s still under investigation at this time.”
Images shared online show large flames coming from the structure — which is the old Wilkinson Steel Building — as crews battled the fire near the waterfront.
Trudeau says about 17 fire trucks were called to the scene, with the fire upgraded to a second alarm.
The building, he adds, is city-maintained. It’s unclear at this point what will happen to the structure.
“Probably get an assessment from an engineer to come out for structural integrity to make sure it’s safe and not going to fall and cause any harm. There will be people who are going out to look at the building to see if it needs to be knocked down [and determine] what the next steps are for the building,” Trudeau said.
@VanFireRescue quickly on the scene great work pic.twitter.com/ozEX3JSfkI
— John Coupar (@JohnCCoupar) July 26, 2023
In a tweet Wednesday, Vancouver city councillor Peter Meiszner said the building sustained “heavy water damage,” but that “as it’s steel, investigators believe that it was likely not heavily impacted from the water, with only 10-20% of the building destroyed.”
“Hoping this will not impact restoration efforts in the future,” he added.
The fire forced brief road closures in the area near West 2nd Avenue and Columbia Street.
Trudeau says crews kept a close eye on the building for hot spots for several hours, noting access due to metal cladding and the construction of the warehouse posed some challenges.
-With files from Michael Williams
