A fire at the intersection of Commercial Drive and Venables Street has badly damaged a small apartment building with four units.
Asst. Chief Ken Gemmill says the Vancouver Fire Rescue Service was called to a fire around 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 4, at 1638 Venables Street and crews responded quickly in heavy rain, heading to the roof immediately.
"They noticed heavy black smoke coming from the roof; they went on the roof to investigate and take a look," he tells Vancouver Is Awesome. "They opened the roof up and saw heavy flames in the roof structure."
The fire was upgraded to a first alarm fire with eight trucks and 28 firefighters responding along with other emergency services. The effort mean the intersection of Commercial and Venables was blocked by police for a couple of hours.
Gemmill says no one was found inside the building, which has four units, and no pets were discovered. He notes the building didn't have sprinklers, but since it was the middle of the day near a busy intersection the smoke was spotted.
"Two suites are flooded with fire damage in the ceiling so they won't be occupiable for a while," Gemmill says.
Businesses in a building neighbouring the fire were evacuated, including a bunny cafe, but Gemmill says the flames didn't appear to move over at all and it's likely it escaped any damage.
"The fire was stubborn and we're still looking for hot spots right now," he said at the scene Sunday afternoon. "We do have a handle on it now."
He noted VFRS was in contact with emergency social services to make sure the displaced tenants have somewhere to stay.
The cause of the fire is under investigation Gemmill says, though an early observation suggests it was started by accident when electricity arced from wires to a section of metal roof.
