N E W
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2013
W E S T M I N S T E R
INSIDE: New school on schedule for 2014 P3
NEWS,
SPORTS,
OPINION
&
ENTERTAINMENT
www.royalcityrecord.com
‘IT’S A BIG LOSS. IT’S IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HISTORIC DISTRICT,’ – JAIMIE MCEVOY
FIRE RAZES DOWNTOWN BLOCK
A
historic building in downtown New Westminster was wiped out – and others were at risk – after fire ripped through the historic E.L. Lewis Block early Thursday morning. New Westminster Fire Chief Tim Armstrong said crews arrived at the building at 634 Columbia St. around 3:45 a.m. and found it completely engulfed in flames. “The fire was pretty intense,” said Coun. Jaimie McEvoy. “It melted street lights a block away.” Terry Brine, who THERESA MCMANUS co-owns the E.L. Lewis Block with Bill Lewis, received a call alerting him to the fire. “I’ll go put it out,” he said of his first reaction. “I didn’t expect this.” Nothing prepared Brine for the devastation he saw when he arrived at the scene Thursday morning. “It was a pretty full building,” he told The Record. “It’s gone now.” After destroying the E.L. Lewis block, also known as the Crescent Block, fire broke through the firewall and spread to the Hambley Block at 624 Columbia St. “I could look into it – it was only sky,” Blair Fryer, the city’s communication manager, said of the damage to the Hambley Block. Firefighters continued to work to save the Cunningham Block at 612 Columbia St. “The whole block is heritage buildings,” said Kathleen Stevens, a planning assistant with the city. “The Copp’s building was built in 1904. The two buildings next to that were built in 1899.” Much of New Westminster’s downtown was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1898. The buildings in the block were rebuilt after that time. McEvoy said the E.L. Lewis Block was among the post-Great Fire buildings designed to be “nice and solid” and survive a fire. “It’s a big loss,” he said. “It’s a prominent heritage corner. It’s in the middle of the historic district.” McEvoy said the fire has the potential to be the third worst fire in the downtown’s history, with only the Great Fire of
Heritage destroyed: Buildings constructed after the Great Fire of 1898 were destroyed in a blaze that tore through the 600 block of Columbia Street on Oct. 10. The fire was so hot that it melted streetlights a block away.
ON MY BEAT
Shane MacKichan/ THE RECORD
For more photos and a video, scan with
1898 and a fire in the 1800s that destroyed an entire city block being worse. “It is a disaster,” he said. The cause of the fire isn’t known, but Armstrong said roof work was being done on the building. “There was a number of explosions,” he said. “That was the propane tanks left on the roof.” A man who was making a “bottle run” said he heard two explosions about 3:45 a.m. while walking on Columbia Street. He said a police officer pushed him out of the way and told to go somewhere safe. Smoke was billowing throughout the downtown and could be seen from miles away. New Westminster Police Department received a phone call from the fire department at 3:40 a.m. on Oct. 10 advising police of a structure fire at 634 Columbia St.
◗Fire Page 3
Carol McLintock B.A. Realtor 604 803-4783
Alix Cote/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO THE RECORD
TEAM CINDY GERING 604.779.1292
®
New Westminster Specialist
Selling Condos in the City www.carolmclintock.com c.mclintock@shaw.ca
BC - 435 North Road Coquitlam, BC V3K 3V9
Office: 604 421-7275 Fax: 604 421-5263
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
A headstart for your child. French Immersion French Immersion 4 Locations 4 Convenient Convenient Locations No Registration Fee* No Registration Fee*
*for online *for online registrations. registrations. See See our our website website for for details. details.
twitter .com/TheRecord
No. 1 in Condo Sales New Westminster 2008, 2009, 2010 based on presale and MLS statistics from GVREB
Coronation West Realty l us EdithsMontessori.com Cadl ay! to
604-522-1586
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK
facebook.com/RoyalCityRecord