Two early-morning calls kept New Westminster firefighters on the move and in need of a helping hand from their peers in Burnaby.
New Westminster Fire and Rescue was called to a garage fire on Jardine Street in Queensborough at about 4:15 a.m. on Nov. 20.
“It lapped on to the house on the property and got a bit of it going,” said Fire Chief Tim Armstrong. “I understand it was a pretty dilapidate home and garage.”
Armstrong said it’s believed someone was living in the house, but wasn’t sure whether they were home at the time of the fire. No injuries were reported.
Armstrong said it appears the garage is a “write-off” and the house suffered some damage. Police are guarding the site until fire officials begin their investigation later today. If the site was left unsecured and the fire was determined to be arson, Armstrong said it would jeopardize the case.
“They are guarding it until we go and investigate it,” Armstrong said. “That’s kind of standard. They will keep a watch over there.”
While firefighters were attending the Queensborough fire, New Westminster Fire and Rescue Services received a call at 5 a.m. about a fire on the Front Street parkade
“Burnaby covered that for us,” Armstrong said. “We didn’t have any crews left. They were all at the Queensborough fire. We freed up one crew at that (Queensborough) one, and Burnaby backed us up. It didn’t turn out to be anything. It was a rubbish container on fire. It looked more dramatic than it was.”
According to Armstrong, the call came in as “smoke coming from the parkade” but it turned out to be a rubbish fire. The fire set off a sprinkler on the parkade.
“Anytime we get a working fire in the city here, we are pretty much all hands on deck,” Armstrong said. “Our automatic procedure now is we notify Richmond, Delta and Burnaby. Depending on the area, if we get a second call they will respond to our second call. It’s an automatic aid agreement with other municipalities. We do reciprocate. We have gone in to take calls for Burnaby. We have taken calls for Delta on a regular basis, and Richmond.”
