Police say it's too early to tell whether a house fire at 4871 Larkspur Ave. Wednesday evening, where firefighters found 30 containers of acetone, and Thursday morning's search of a vehicle containing possible toxic materials, are connected.
"It is too early to say at this point whether or not they are related," said Cpl. Sherrdean Turley, spokeswoman for the Richmond RCMP. "Investigators will be looking into that possibility."
City spokesman Ted Townsend said, "Richmond Fire Rescue responded to the house fire, in which the crew removed 30 containers of acetone." Acetone is a chemical used in the production of methamphetamine.
"At this point, it's a criminal investigation and we still don't know the cause of the fire, but I can tell you that the home suffered severe damage," said Townsend, adding the firefighters on the scene had to be decontaminated.
When asked if anyone was living in the residence at the time of the fire, Townsend said: "It's not clear whether there were residents or not."
Meanwhile, Turley did confirm that around 9: 30 a.m.
Thursday morning, police pulled over a vehicle in the 7500-block of Reeder Road. Upon searching the vehicle, police found containers of chemicals, forcing them to evacuate residents in the area.
In a press release, Turley said the E Division RCMP clandestine lab team was called in to assist and was expected to be on the scene for several hours.
"Residents were evacuated as a precautionary measure and streets in the surrounding area have been closed to both vehicular and foot traffic," Turley added.
As of the News' deadline, police couldn't confirm the exact contents in the vehicle other than to say that there was no immediate threat to the public.
