A massive fire erupted early Tuesday morning in Surrey, waking up neighbours to flames burning close to their apartment buildings.
Surrey Fire Service Assistant Chief Greg McRobbie says crews were called to 13478 Hilton Rd. at about 2 a.m.
“When they arrived on scene, there was heavy smoke and flames coming from behind the address,” says McRobbie.
Crews found a carport structure with seven vehicles fully engulfed in flames.
“The crews raised the alarm level to a second alarm, which brought more trucks to the scene,” he says.
Kimberly Gail Warhurst lives across the street and woke up to see the fire.
“We heard a lot of explosions,” she says. “It woke the neighbours up. We were scared that it would spread but luckily they got the fire out quickly.”
She says the flames were at least 20 feet high.
“We are grateful that firefighters were able to extinguish the fire quickly before it got worse. The fire went out fast after they showed up,” says Warhurst.
Nine apparatus and 27 firefighters fought the blaze.
McRobbie says the biggest concern was apartment buildings close to the fire.
“We wanted to set up exposure lines to make sure those buildings were protected from the radiant heat,” he says. “There were a few windows broken.”
Firefighters confirmed there was no smoke or flames in the nearby buildings.
Four other vehicles, a rental facility across the street and an auto-body shop had heat exposure.
The scene was turned over to Surrey RCMP at around 4 a.m., noted McRobbie.
Police confirmed to Glacier Media no one was injured.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated and is not known at this time.