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Cause of fire that destroyed Surrey auto salvage building to remain a mystery

But firefighters say two-alarm Boxing Day fire in Bridgeview not considered suspicious
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Surrey firefighters battle auto salvage fire in Bridgeview on Boxing Day. (Photo: Curtis Kreklau)

Surrey firefighters say the two-alarm Boxing Day fire in Bridgeview that destroyed an auto salvage building is not considered to be suspicious but it looks like what caused the blaze will remain a mystery.

The fire at 116th Avenue and 132B Street consumed a building that was roughly 1,000 square feet, sending up billows of black smoke. Twenty-four firefighters had arrived in eight trucks to fight the blaze.

READ ALSO: Surrey firefighters trying to determine cause of Boxing Day fire in Bridgeview

Surrey Assistant Fire Chief Jason Cairney told the Now-Leader on Friday that because of the structural instability of what remained of the outbuilding the investigator wasn’t able to go too far in, “but he was able to do a preliminary investigation from the outside and there’s no reason at this time for us to think it’s suspicious.”

Jason Cairney (Surrey Fire Services photo)

So what do they think caused the fire?

“He’s not sure,” Cairney said of the investigator. “There were many ignition sources in there, so without going inside the building, he’s not able to confirm conclusively what it might be. So in situations like this we’ll weigh the risk versus cost of going any further. So if there’s indications of suspicion or injury, significant injury or death, we would probably get an engineer in and shore up the building but for this type of structure there’s not really any need for that at this time.”



tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com

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About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
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