Traffic affected after early morning strip mall fire in Port Moody

An investigation has been launched into a fire that broke out at a barbershop in a Port Moody strip mall in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Commuters are being advised to expect traffic delays in Port Moody following an early morning fire at a strip mall.

Police and firefighters were called to the mall on the 2900 block of St Johns Street at around 1:30 a.m. amid a report of a structure fire inside a business, the Port Moody Police Department said Wednesday.

With only nine firefighters on duty, the department had to make a call out for additional support from crews still at home. A total of 22 firefighters and five trucks tackled the blaze.

The fire was contained to a single suite, a barber shop, and the surrounding units suffered minor damage. The blaze has since been extinguished, yet the suite remains unsafe to enter. According to police, nobody was inside the building at the time and no injuries have been reported.

A cause is still to be determined.

While St Johns Street has reopened, some eastbound traffic is still being impacted.