New Westminster firefighters saved three buildings and hundreds of their own uniforms from a fire that destroyed two businesses Sunday.
The blaze broke out in the walls of the New Venture Coin Laundry laundromat in the 400 block of Eighth Street around 6 p.m.
It took 42 firefighters, two water trucks and five engines to extinguish the stubborn fire by about 1 a.m. Monday.
Crews were called in from Burnaby to help.
“It was a hot night,” New West Fire Chief Tim Armstrong told the Record, “and we started to exhaust crews pretty early into the fire, so we asked for assistance from Burnaby.”
The Burnaby department pitched in with one water truck and two engines.
“It was definitely a hard fire to fight,” Armstrong said, “and the crews worked very hard, and we managed to save the adjacent buildings and the apartments that were in close proximity, both on the back side of that strip-mall as well as on the side. We were concerned at one time that the fire would lap onto those buildings.”
The blaze completely destroyed the coin laundry and Attention Barbershop next door, but Star Cleaners, Rainbow Market and Royal Crown Pizza were spared.
“There’ll be some smoke and water damage and that, but the fire didn’t extend into those areas,” Armstrong said.
Among the smoky, watery mess at Star Cleaners were several hundred New West firefighter uniforms.
“The city has a contract with Star Cleaners,” Armstrong said. “They do the whole department’s dry cleaning.”
He said firefighters bagged the uniforms Monday morning, and insurance will pay for them to be cleaned at another facility.
