The New Westminster Police Department is investigating the cause of a fire that left 68 tenants temporarily displaced from their homes. Plumes of black smoke poured out of an apartment building in the 200 block of Ash Street shortly after 11 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 29. The fire began in a first-floor suite at the rear of the building.
Deputy fire chief John Hatch said two suites had extensive fire and smoke damage, and a third suite sustained slight damage in the fire. Other suites in the north wing of the
building suffered smoke damage.
"We know where the point of origin is. However, we do not know the cause as of yet," he told The Record. "It is on the first floor."
Hatch couldn't say which room of the apartment unit the fire began, or if anyone was in the suite where the fire started.
"Everything is in the police hands," he said. "We did our investigation. We provided all our information to them."
New Westminster Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Diana McDaniel said the fire is still under investigation.
"They are continuing to work on that. It's in the early stages, it's just ongoing," she said. "It is in our hands. It is in the police hands as far as determining cause and if there was an arson involved. They are continuing to work on that."
Following the fire, Emergency Social Services processed about 68 residents. Seven tenants were temporarily relocated to a nearby hotel, while 61 stayed with personal contacts.
Hatch said electrical service to the building was initially cut so tenants couldn't return to their suites that evening. He said about half of the tenants living on the south side of the building were allowed to return to their homes the following evening, and some tenants living in suites on the north side were later allowed to return to their suites.
According to Hatch, the building owner and insurance companies are working with the building department at city hall on repairs to the suites most damaged in the fire.
Hatch commended staff and volunteers with Emergency Social Services for doing a "tremendous job" in helping tenants who were displaced by the fire. He also said fire crews did an "outstanding job" knocking down the fire and preventing damage to more suites in the low-rise apartment building.
New Westminster Police Insp. Phil Eastwood told The Record that the suite where the fire originated was fully engulfed in flames when fire crews arrived. No one was injured in the fire.
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