A dilapidated old building destined for redevelopment got demolished a little sooner than expected after it went up in flames early Wednesday morning.
New Westminster firefighters were called a two-storey apartment building at 1321 Cariboo St. about 6:15 a.m. on Dec. 30.
“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.
City of New Westminster documents state the building was built in 1956 and once contained eight suites.
Because the building was vacant, firefighters fought the fire from the outside.
“They just went defensive. There was nothing of value to the building to save,” Armstrong said. “Our primary focus was to protect the adjacent apartment buildings from any exposure.”
Heavy smoke filled the air as firefighters fought the fire, which was located in an area just off of Stewardson Way.
Armstrong said an adjacent building was evacuated because of the presence of heavy smoke.
“That was just a precaution,” he said. “We brought in transit buses and those people were sheltered in transit buses until we deemed it safe for them to go back into the apartment.”
Armstrong said about three families were on the bus for a couple of hours, and steps were taken to ensure the space was safe in a time of COVID-19.
“We had our plan in place,” he said. “We did contact tracing for everybody who was in there so we know was in there and how to get a hold of them. They were issued masks and hand sanitizer.”
The timing of the fire worked out well for the fire department, as it began just before the night shift wrapped up for the day and the day shift arrived for work.
“The day shift crew came on so we had double the normal staffing level that we have. We didn’t have to call out (additional firefighters) because we knew another crew was coming,” he said. “Our crews usually start showing up around 7 o’clock for the day shift. It came in at 6:15. By 8 o’clock we had double the crews down there.”
By late afternoon, the fire had pretty much been extinguished. The fire department bought in an excavator to knock down the building and pull some of it apart, so firefighters could extinguish the remaining hotspots and watch for any flare-ups.
“It is pretty much demolished now,” Armstrong said.
