Learning from Last Year's Fire

Fire at West 41st and Collingwood

Last August my parents and I were sitting at home about to eat dinner when we heard three big booms south of us.

I went outside to take a look and didn't see anything.

But then there were more explosion sounds and I walked down to the end of the block. From this vantage point looking south down the hill I could see a big black plume of smoke south east of us. As I walked down two blocks closer to the fire I saw giant flames beyond the tall trees. It was a frightening sight.

Saw giant black plume of smoke, fire

Later on social media there were videos of the six-storey building that was under construction was completely on fire. Another clip showed the building crane "melt" and fall away from the site, crashing onto the road. Luckily no one was there, and the fire truck had just moved away from that spot!

Then there was a commotion across the street from us -- our neighbour's roof was smouldering thanks to flying embers. The fire fighters told us to survey our roofs to see if there was any smoke. Luckily we were OK, but it was a scary lesson in how fires can easily start.

This evening three fire servicemen from the Vancouver Fire Rescue Services came to our neighbourhood meeting to talk about that fire, and two of them were on the ground fighting it.

They explained that since 2009 the City of Vancouver has allowed wood construction for six-storey buildings which was adopted in the building code. According to these fire service men, these buildings are faster to build, use sustainable material, and in this case, the rules around construction and safety were all followed before the fire. 

Unfortunately they still don't know the cause of the fire; a private investigator is working on the case for insurance purposes, but will not share their findings with the fire service...

The building was near completion, with insulation, a very light material stored on the roof -- these were the embers that flew several blocks away onto our porches and roofs causing a few fires here and there.

So when the firemen arrived, the fire was so hot, they had to wear their fire gloves right away. Luckily fire prevention materials were installed in the house next to the construction site which saved the other houses further along from bursting into flames from the sheer heat.

Embers landed at our home

Nevertheless, when they tried to fight the fire on the construction site, the water completely dissipated because the fire was so hot. They could only make sure the other houses did not catch fire and that the occupants were evacuated. No one was killed, but the crane fell onto a house, and the person happened to be in the washroom, and the crane missed him! The firefighters had to extract him from the window.

There are 21 fire stations in the city, but they were also pre-occupied with a big fire that engulfed an abandoned apartment building on East 10th. Hours later the fire near us erupted.

The VFRS called on Richmond and Burnaby to help out -- Richmond came because they are on the same radio frequency, Burnaby is on a different one. Richmond was helpful in putting out smaller fires in the area, but it showed the VFRS need to know how to deploy people when there's more than one major fire. The fire captain also admitted he had no idea how thirsty his firefighters were until they said they needed water.

VFRS learned a lot from the fire, such as the need to communicate with the public, staffing issues, and that cranes can collapse in fires, and calling for help from other jurisdictions. Early next year people with smartphones will receive messages in case you live in a certain area where there is a fire and give instructions on what to do.

As for homeowners, it's best to change from cedar shingle roofs to asphalt ones, which we just did this summer. They suggested ensuring gutters are clean, and try to keep trees a maximum height of three metres tall, or at least prune as much as possible and keep yards tidy. Firewood should not be stacked up by the house, and if there is a fire nearby, close the windows and turn on the garden hose and keep the house as wet as possible.

It was a stimulating discussion and we all learned a lot! Needless to say we thanked the three fire services men for their work in putting out the fire eventually and keeping the rest of us safe!