Langley Township Fire Department crews spent most of Sunday at 240th Street on Fraser Highway dealing with a fire in a two storey building.
The structure at 24065 Fraser Hwy. was still requiring work several hours after the first alarm.
Assistant fire chief Pat Walker said the upper storey had collapsed, so crews were still trying to completely snuff out the fire Sunday afternoon.
“We haven’t gone into investigate the fire. It’s just too dangerous, just too much fire damage at this point in time,†he said.
The occupants and their dogs got out safely. The dogs were sheltered in a police cruiser until they could be taken somewhere for safekeeping.
The fire call came in at about 9:28 a.m. on Feb. 23.
“We immediately went into a third alarm assignment because there’s no hydrants in the area,†Walker explained.
The fire was in a building that was about a 100 foot by 240 foot with two storeys, and made of brick block. It has a wood mezzanine on the exterior.
Walker said two people on site when the fire department arrived but noted that there were no injuries.
The three alarm designation brought in the tanker fleet from all seven Township halls.
“Our tanker fleet supplied water to the area,†he said.
Fraser Highway was closed off at 240th Street as fire crews came and went with their tanker trucks as part of the department’s shuttle service for areas without hydrants.
Fire trucks could be seen on Fraser Highway in Murrayville, filling up from the nearest hydrants.
On Monday, fire investigators could start picking through the remains of the gutted building, but they did not believe they would come up with a definitive answer for the cause.
“We know it started on the second floor, but the second floor is now on the first floor,†said assistant fire chief Bruce Ferguson.
The roof is on top of the rest of the remains, Ferguson said.
Firefighters suspect it was an electrical issue that started the fire, but the fire was so intense, and the building so difficult to access during the fire, that there isn’t enough left to investigate.
The building housed a permitted medical marijuana grow operation. Langley RCMP are not planning any investigation as the grow was licensed.