The Vancouver Fire Rescue Services crews were called to a massive blaze in East Vancouver Monday night.
Chief Karen Fry took to social media, saying there were “multiple houses” on fire in the Strathcona neighbourhood street of East Pender at Glen Drive.
Speaking to 1130 News Radio, Fry says the fire broke out just before 8 p.m. When the first engines arrived, they were met with “heavy smoke and flames showing.”
“They quickly upgraded it to a working fire and started trying their best to save the neighbouring homes. These homes are very close together on the street,” she added.
Fry explains four homes have been damaged in the fire, two likely destroyed.
“There’s a lot of residents. These are multi-resident homes. … there’s going to be quite a bit of displacement, and the tenants here and occupants of these buildings are going to be looking for somewhere else to stay,” she said. “We will do what we can with our provincial emergency services.”
Fry is urging people to stay away from the area. Glen Drive is blocked to traffic between Venables Street and East Hastings Street while firefighters are on scene.
All tenants were able to evacuate the homes, Fry says, with no reported injuries.
“Everybody got out safe tonight. In our firefighters, I have no reported injuries. But, the firefighters are they’re still working extremely hard to try and contain this fire. It’s still an active fire. We have 11 apparatus and about 44 firefighters on scene here tonight,” she explained.
Footage from the blaze sent to 1130 NewsRadio showed massive orange flames shooting into the air, with callers saying smoke could be smelled in nearby neighbourhoods.
Fry explains that if the fire had broken out just hours later when people were sleeping, the outcome could “have been a totally different story.”
“Our firefighters are doing amazing work to try and put this fire out, and we are grateful that everybody escaped safely here tonight. But the situation can be very different if your smoke alarm isn’t working,” she explained.
“What better time than fire prevention week to have everybody check their smoke alarm, to test it twice a year, and to replace it every 10 years,” she urged.
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