A fire in downtown Port Coquitlam destroyed four buildings Thursday, causing millions of dollars in property damage, as well as the evacuation of Port Coquitlam City Hall.
The late morning blaze began in a barbershop near the intersection of Shaughnessy Street and Elgin Street, spreading throughout the wooden building that housed it. Before long, over 100 homes and business had been evacuated, including City Hall, which reopened later in the day.
“It migrated through the roof structure of one of the buildings. It was a very difficult fire to fight,” said Port Coquitlam Fire Chief Nick Delmonico, in a video posted to the City of Port Coquitlam’s Twitter account. ”
Firefighters got the fire under control at about 2 p.m., after it caused estimated damage in the millions of dollars, destroying several businesses, and causing the collapse of four buildings.
No injuries have been reported.
We can now confirm that City Hall is open (10:47 a.m.) Thank you to all our firefighters for their hard work.
— City of PoCo (@CityofPoCo) July 30, 2015
BREAKING: Port Coquitlam businesses on fire, nearby #PoCo City Hall closed http://t.co/fdAnwPdCOk pic.twitter.com/r1283SWrCW
— CBC British Columbia (@cbcnewsbc) July 30, 2015
Here’s a snapshot of the scope of the fire #PortCoquitlam downtown. pic.twitter.com/ja6VaoHzZm — City of PoCo (@CityofPoCo) July 30, 2015
UPDATE: #PortCoquitlam fire burns through 4 buildings, City Hall evacuated #PoCo http://t.co/VGCtUZB3fL pic.twitter.com/PKUx5afzOk
— CBC British Columbia (@cbcnewsbc) July 30, 2015
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