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COVERAGE WEDNESDAY MARCH 1, 2017
LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS
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PUBLIC SAFETY
POLITICS
House fire sends seven to hospital
Julian gets Quebec boost
By Cornelia Naylor
cnaylor@burnabynow.com
Burnaby firefighters have had a busy last few days. On Monday, crews were called to 8051 10th Ave. at around 1:40 a.m. for a fire that broke out in a twostorey, single-family home and sent seven people to hospital. Heavy flames and smoke were coming from the first floor at the front of the building when firefighters arrived. “All seven occupants were out of the house by the time we got there,” assistant fire Chief Barry Mawhinney told the NOW. “Apparently they were alerted by smoke detectors.” The seven family members were taken to hospital and treated for smoke inhalation, but their 14-week-old kitten was unaccounted for on the morning of the fire. About thirty firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze, but the entire first floor was destroyed and the second storey sustained heavy smoke and fire damage, according Mawhinney. “The house is uninhabitable,” he said. “They can’t live in it right now.” The fire department is still investigating, and no cause has yet been determined. TOWNHOUSE FIRE On Saturday night, firefighters quickly knocked down a blaze at a townhouse complex at 6813 Prenter St. that could have been much worse, according Mawhinney. “My biggest fear was it getting into the attic through the soffits and
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‘This is something that doesn’t happen very often’ By Tereza Verenca
tverenca@burnabynow.com
UNINHABITABLE: A Burnaby fire investigator leaves the scene of a house fire on 10th Avenue near 2nd Street that sent seven people to hospital early Monday morning for smoke inhalation. The blaze broke out in the first floor at the front of the two-storey, single-family home. PHOTO CORNELIA NAYLOR
RRSP DEADLINE MARCH 1 604-419-8888 • gffg.com/RRSP
Four Quebec MPs have endorsed Peter Julian in his bid to become the next leader of the federal NDP. A rally was held in Sherbrooke, Que. last week by NDP MPs PierreLuc Dusseault, Brigitte Sansoucy, François Choquette and Robert Aubin, to announce their support for the New Westminster-Burnaby MP. “This is something that doesn’t happen very often, that you get that kind of endorsement from back east for a B.C. candidate running for the NDP leadership,” Julian told the NOW. “To have 10 per cent of our caucus stand up, even before they know who the other candidates are, it tells me we’re very much on the right track.” Julian, who’s bilingual, moved to Quebec in 1987 as a young student in order to learn French. He went on to campaign for the Quebec NDP and helped build the party’s structure there during the ’90s, according to a press release. Julian’s platform includes ending tuition fees at post-secondary institutions, opposing pipelines like Trans Mountain and Keystone XL, and creating affordable housing. “I feel very strongly that there’s a Continued on page 4
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