A fire that broke out at a vacant building in East Vancouver Sunday was so serious crews were unable to check if anyone was inside when the blaze broke out. Vancouver Fire Rescue Services were called to the scene on East Hastings Street near Vernon Drive just before 10 a.m. and roughly three dozen firefighters spent hours tackling the flames from the outside in an approach one referred to as a “surround and drown.” Plumes of smoke were visible from kilometres away, multiple bus routes were detoured, roads were closed, and a smoke advisory was issued by the city urging residents in the area to keep their windows closed and warning the public to avoid the area. Vancouver Fire Rescue Services Acting Asst. Chief Wes Abrams said no firefighters were injured during the response. The cause, as of Sunday afternoon, was unknown. “Until the fire is out and they can actually start picking through it, I can’t answer anything as to the cause,” Abrams said. The building will need to be demolished as soon as possible, according to Saul Schwebs, the City of Vancouver’s chief building inspector. Schwebs noted that firefighters had to mount a “defensive attack” and were not able to do a search of the premises. Part of the demolition work will be making sure there was no one seeking shelter in the building when it caught fire and all-but collapsed from the impact. “Given the nature of vacant buildings in the city right now, we can’t assume that they’re vacant,” Schwebs said. “We do need to keep that in mind when we’re doing this work.” Part of the demolition process will involve “spotters” scanning the scene from above for anything that looks like it could be human remains. The building at 1172 East Hastings Street was an SRO that was shuttered due to safety issues and is now owned by BC Housing, which has a rezoning application in progress for the site. VFRS will be on site during the demolition doing dust suppression work, which will ensure any potentially hazardous chemicals that might be present in the century-old building – like asbestos, lead and mercury – don’t become airborne. Schwebs predicts the building will be reduced to a rubble pile by sundown
