Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services (VFRS) implores people to avoid driving across supply lines after one burst while firefighters battled a blaze on Friday (May 27) morning.
Firefighters responded to a second alarm fire around 10 a.m. in a house located at 7726 Ash St. in South Vancouver. Grey and brown smoke was furling out of the chimney and flames were coming through the roof.
VFRS Asst. Chief Richard Warnock told Vancouver Is Awesome in a phone interview that the people who live on the main floors of the house were not home during the fire because it was being renovated. However, the person who lives in the basement was home with two friends when the blaze broke out. Thankfully, they were evacuated immediately and there were no injuries.
But Warnock notes that the fire crew had difficulty battling the blaze because multiple cars drove over one of the supply lines.
"We had multiple cars going over the charged fire lines and we did have a partial rupture," he explained, adding that the firefighters lost the supply of pressure and had to go defensive for a while.
The assistant fire chief asks that drivers avoid driving over fire hoses and notes that they can get slapped with a fine for doing so.
Warnock added that "numerous cars had driven over it" before someone ruptured it.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
