Another vacant home in New Westminster went up in flames on Saturday morning.
New Westminster firefighters had to not only deal with a fire that tore through a vacant home on Royal Avenue right next to the onramp to the Pattullo Bridge, but also the snow, low temperatures and stiff winds.
No word on a cause yet.
Fire was reported around 7 a.m. Saturday morning and took crews a couple hours to contain it.
This is at least the second fire on a vacant property in the past two months.
Back in late December, a dilapidated old building destined for redevelopment got demolished a little sooner than expected after it went up in flames.
New Westminster firefighters were called a two-storey apartment building at 1321 Cariboo St.
“It has been vacant for a number of years. Upon arrival they saw that it was fully involved on the inside of the building. There was no drywall or anything in the building, so it was eventually going to be demolished,” said fire Chief Tim Armstrong. “The owners were eventually going to redevelop that property. I think they had an ongoing problem with people breaking in.”
New Westminster’s police and fire departments are investigating the cause of the fire. While there is nothing to indicate it was suspicious, Armstrong noted there was no power in the building, so there would have been no ignition source unless someone had been inside.
“Anytime a fire spontaneously combusts in the night for no reason, there is always somewhat of a suspicion on our part,” he told the Record. “We don’t have anything definite to go on yet.”
Neighbours have reported that homeless individuals have stayed in the building on multiple occasions. Armstrong said there is nothing to indicate anyone was in the building at the time of the fire.
And in January 2020, a suspicious late-night fire in the Brow of the Hill neighbourhood hit a vacant home in the 400 block of 12th Street, said Deputy Fire Chief John Hatch. While the house had been boarded up, he said people had been seen going into the home.
“It’s possibly suspicious,” Hatch said at the time. “There is nobody living in it and it is boarded up. There have been reports of unknown people entering the building.”
- With additional reporting by Theresa McManus
