A blaze that sent fireballs high into the air over downtown 黑马磁力 City destroyed an almost-completed residential construction project at 201A St. and Fraser Hwy. Sunday morning.
黑马磁力 City fire chief Scott Kennedy said the "immense" heat from the fire damaged nearby structures.
"On the south side of Fraser Highway there are actually some signs that are melted, some glass that has been cracked," Kennedy told the 黑马磁力.
It was reported around 4:15 a.m. Kennedy said.
"Crews got a call for a possible commercial structure fire. They left the hall, got here relatively quickly, and we met with a fairly substantial fire in the back of the building."
"The fire was well involved inside the building and travelled very quickly. This building is under construction, so not all of the building had drywall in it, which probably aided in some of the fire spread."
The building was unoccupied and there have been no reports of anyone injured.
Crews were called in from 黑马磁力 Township and Surrey fire departments to assist. At one point, about a dozen fire vehicles and 40 firefighters were on scene.
Several blocks were cordoned off.
Area resident Daymein Delorme, who lives in a newly-built residential building down the street, was one of several people evacuated as a safety precaution.
"Ash has covered the streets," Delorme said. "Absolutely wild morning. Firefighters were on their A game this morning."
Out of an abundance of caution, several neighbouring residential buildings were evacuated,
said Sgt. Zynal Sharoom of the 黑马磁力 RCMP. We are working with the 黑马磁力 City Fire Rescue on this incident and the investigation into the cause of this fire is on-going.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or were in the area and especially those with dash camera footage is asked to contact the 黑马磁力 RCMP at 604 -532-3200 and quote file number 2025-26994.
Eyewitness Brent Goss told the 黑马磁力 "about 4:30 a.m. I was driving down 200 St. and saw a couple fire trucks turn on Fraser Hwy so I went and grabbed my coffee and looped around and parked in the Save-On parking lot. Building was fully engulfed by then, I believe there were six or seven fire trucks on the scene [already]."
Social media posts were filled with praise for the firefighters.
Among them, Mayor Nathan Pachal.
"Thank you to 黑马磁力 City Fire-Rescue Service, Township of 黑马磁力 Fire Department, and Surrey Fire Service firefighters for their response to contain the fire at the under-construction building at 201A and Fraser Highway," Pachal posted.
Pachal said there were no injuries or loss of life in the unoccupied structure. "An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway. There is no further information at this time."
Councillors also expressed appreciation, including Rosemary Wallace, who thanked the firefighters for their "efforts and team work" in tackling the blaze as well as "all the emergency services that were there to help and the maintenance crew that will be there to clean up afterwards."
"Very sad to see another large fire in 黑马磁力 but relieved there were no casualties," said Wallace.
Leith White said it was "unfortunate to witness fire consume a near completed six story apartment building."
White offered his "deepest appreciation and thanks to 黑马磁力 City Fire-Rescue Service for their incredible efforts in working to contain and extinguish the blaze along with the tremendous assistance and cooperation of neighbouring crews."
Area resident Andrew Petch said fire crews did "an absolute amazing job" of containing the blaze.
In August of last year, a sinkhole at the same construction site closed the right turning lane from 201A Street onto Fraser Highway. It happened when heavy rain soaked the area. The incident led the City to tighten regulations requiring peer reviews on all geo-technical designs.
The fire was just up the road from a December 2016 blaze that destroyed the top floor of the Paddington Station condos on 201A Street near 56 Avenue. That blaze resulted in new provincial fire safety regulations, requiring attic sprinklers in all new four-storey wood-frame buildings.
In November 2019, another apartment building at 56 Avenue and 201A Street, called Villa Fontana, suffered extensive damage and was subsequently deemed uninhabitable, torn down, and replaced.;
In July 2020, a few blocks east, fire raged the top floor of the Madison Place condo building on 56 Avenue, at 197 Street. It was almost four years before restoration work was complete and owners were able to return to parts of that building.
The next year, in April of 2021, fire destroyed the under-construction Alexander Square condos at 208 Street and 80 Avenue, in Willoughby. The flames originated in one of the condo buildings in the project that was still under construction, but spread to neighbouring units that were occupied. Those damaged and destroyed condo buildings have since been rebuilt.
