From yesterday evening to early this morning, fire crews from both Vancouver and Surrey were battling a barge fire that took place on the Fraser River.
According to Johnathan Gormick of Vancouver Fire & Rescue Services (VFRS), the flames were first reported around 5:15 pm by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.
VF&RS #Fireboat is assisting @CityofSurrey with a barge fire on the #fraserriver #vanfireboats #vanworkingfire pic.twitter.com/Dm36g6kZpK
— Vancouver Fire (@VanFireRescue) October 10, 2018
The VFRS sent a fireboat and a battalion chief to assist teams from Surrey.
They found the blaze at the north arm of the Fraser River, where a thick black smog looked to be erupting near the Pattullo Bridge.
Horrible to see this happening again!!! #NewWest #bargefire #surrey pic.twitter.com/cak5wAIjXG
— Janet Kvammen (@janetkvammen) October 10, 2018
Barge fire, again. pic.twitter.com/WZISsFluGh
— Fraser Hewitt (@FraserHewitt) October 10, 2018
#FraserRiver #barge #fire #NewWest pic.twitter.com/N7SDzqf3e1
— Tracy Pitkin (@newwester) October 10, 2018
Barge fire near #NewWest. A phone camera from this distance just doesn’t show the size on those flames. pic.twitter.com/RefxQpG4xc
— Michael Olson (@MW_Olson) October 10, 2018
@CityNewsVAN again barge fire pic.twitter.com/B9JP0Ud2TN
— Deb On Fare (@FayantDeborah) October 10, 2018
Hmm… that’s not good! Surrey seems to get entirely too many barge fires! ⛴🔥 pic.twitter.com/JBnLuxB609
— Nick VA7NCD 🇨🇦 (@va7ncd) October 10, 2018
Crews continued to battle the fire throughout the night, only making a brief change in teams at around 1 am.
By 6 am this morning, the flames had been extinguished.
Gormick was unable to comment on the cause of the fire but explains that the barge consisted of scrap materials waiting to be recycled.
Danielle Jang of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority explained that Schnitzer Steel would be responsible for conducting an investigation into the cause of the fire.
The metal recycling company was also responsible for a similar barge fire that took place two months ago.
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