It only took firefighters five minutes to put out a fire Friday morning at the Brewery District.
The fire happened at one of the new buildings currently under construction off East Columbia Street, according to New Westminster deputy fire Chief John Hatch.
Construction workers were applying a surface membrane that needed to be waterproofed and the process uses tar that is heated up using propane, but the propane tank fell over and lit the tar on fire, Hatch said.
Residents nearby reported seeing large plumes of black and white smoke coming from the Brewery District development near Keary Street off East Columbia.
“It’s the propane flame that’s burning the tar,” Hatch said.
“It’s like when a large diesel engine starts up, it gives off a lot of black smoke initially. It’s a petroleum product so when you burn it, it gives off black smoke.”
Decent Fire at #brewerydistrict this morning. Think black smoke quickly followed by white smoke. #NewWest pic.twitter.com/vAB1kTAfxQ
— Wes (@eastvancity) January 4, 2019
While there was a lot of smoke, the fire itself was small in size, Hatch said.
“It was less than five minutes once we got on scene,” he added.
Sixteen firefighters attended, and no injuries were reported.
