LangleyAdvance Your community newspaper since 1931
Tuesday, February 25, 2014 Breaking news, sports, and entertainment: www.langleyadvance.com
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Langley Township fire crews fought a fire in a two storey building Sunday morning during the heavy wet snowfall. Flames gutted the building (inset below), with the upper floors collapsing into the ground floor.
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Fire
Flames rage during snowstorm
by Heather Colpitts and Matthew Claxton news@langleyadvance.com
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Langley Township Fire Department Heather Colpitts/Langley Advance
A building with a medical marijuana grow op inside was destroyed by fire Sunday.
604-530-4141
Langley Township Fire Department crews spent most of Sunday at 240th Street on Fraser Highway dealing with a fire in a two storey building. The structure at 24065 Fraser Hwy. was still requiring work several hours after the first alarm. Assistant fire chief Pat Walker said the upper storey had collapsed, so crews were still trying to completely snuff out the fire Sunday afternoon. “We haven’t gone into investigate the fire. It’s just too dangerous, just too much fire damage at this point in time,” he said.
The occupants and their tors could start picking dogs got out safely. The through the remains dogs were sheltered in a of the gutted building, police cruiser until they but they did not believe could be taken somethey would come up where for safekeeping. with a definitive answer The fire call came in at for the cause. about 9:28 a.m. on Feb. “We know it started 23. on the second floor, but “We immediately went the second floor is now into a third alarm assignon the first floor,” said Heather Colpitts/Langley Advance ment because there’s no assistant fire chief Bruce hydrants in the area,” Ferguson. Fraser Highway was closed at 240th Street for a staging area for Walker explained. The roof is on top of the Township Fire Department to shuttle water to the fire scene. The fire was in a buildthe rest of the remains, ing that was about a 100 foot by Ferguson said. water to the area,” he said. 240 foot with two storeys, and Firefighters suspect it was an Fraser Highway was closed made of brick block. It has a electrical issue that started the off at 240th Street as fire crews wood mezzanine on the exterior. fire, but the fire was so intense, came and went with their tanker Walker said two people on site trucks as part of the department’s and the building so difficult to when the fire department arrived access during the fire, that there shuttle service for areas without but noted that there were no isn’t enough left to investigate. hydrants. injuries. The building housed a permitFire trucks could be seen on The three alarm designation ted medical marijuana grow Fraser Highway in Murrayville, brought in the tanker fleet from operation. Langley RCMP are not filling up from the nearest all seven Township halls. planning any investigation as the hydrants. “Our tanker fleet supplied grow was licensed. On Monday, fire investiga-
Extreme weather
Snow: what happened to living on Wet Coast? Drivers had some problems with the snowy weather over the weekend.
by Matthew Claxton
mclaxton@langleyadvance.com
604-532-9445 5957 - 206A St., Langley www.bernhausendiesel.com
5
Snow falling since Saturday caused a few problems around Langley for drivers, and those who found themselves sitting in the dark. “We had quite a few calls yesterday,”
said assistant Township fire chief Bruce Ferguson. There were 11 vehicle accidents on Sunday, the heaviest day of the snowfall that started Saturday and continued into Monday. There were also a series of calls for wires down across the Township. BC Hydro recorded more than 22 separate power failures that impacted Langley, including some that affected portions of Abbotsford, Maple Ridge, or Surrey as well. They affected areas as small as a few hous-
es, or as many as several thousand residents. The cause of most of the power failures was listed as tree branches falling on wires, along with a number credited to the storm itself, and one caused by a car accident. A snowfall warning was in place for Monday, with Environment Canada predicting a further five to 15 centimeters of snow would fall. Temperatures were so close to freezing in many parts of Langley that there was little buildup of snow on major streets, however.