Three-alarm fire damages Surrey business, cause under investigation

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SURREY (NEWS 1130) – Surrey Fire are cleaning up after a large fire broke out in the area of King George Boulevard and 101 Avenue this morning.

Crews were called out at about 7:30 a.m. When crews arrived, flames were already shooting out of the building that houses The Hockey Shop.

Surrey Fire Captain Brian Woznikoski says they’re getting conflicting reports and an investigation is underway, but it looks like the fire may have started in some garbage at the back of the store. “The crew extinguished the fire but quickly learned that the fire penetrated into the building. The fire may have started in the building, we’re unsure at this time. We immediately upgraded to a second-alarm call and then went to a third-alarm.”

He adds the damage to the store is severe, but it could have been much worse. “There is damage to the product in the building and to the rear portion of the building. The building is not completely gone. The fire was contained to the rear of the building. The main portion of the building is still in working condition other than smoke damage.”

Woznikoski says tackling the fire was incredibly difficult for his members. “The fire has gone into the decking into the roof area and there’s a large amount of air condition and H-VAC handling systems in the area where the fire has penetrated underneath the roofing material.”

He explains they’re going to slowly open the roof to douse any hot spots.

No neighbouring buildings were affected. “These are concrete cinder block buildings. It’s definitely advantageous and the building also has a firewall so it couldn’t penetrate through the front of the store.”

At the height of it, there were 24 firefighters on scene. No one was hurt.

Long-time customers react

The fire also had an impact on hockey games scheduled at the North Surrey Recreation Centre on Saturday.

“We had a game against Surrey A3 and unfortunately it was cancelled because smoke had gotten to the recreation centre and we were unable to go in there,” says Coach Tanner Whincup with North Delta Minor Hockey Bantam A2.

He adds many of his players are regular customers at the Hockey Shop, and is hoping damage is minimal.

“A lot of our kids actually came early to try to get their skates sharpened at the shop, but the shop had obviously shut down because it was on fire this morning.”

Whincup also has friends who work there, and says it’s a shame to see this happen. “I’ve gone to that shop myself, so it’s always terrible to see something like that happen, right?”

John has been a customer at this store for at least 10-15 years. “This is our place we go to, we like the skate sharpening, for shopping for sticks, they have really good product knowledge, so this is the place we go to because we get the knowledge… so if it’s a significant amount of time, we’re going to have to find another place to go to.”

 

The fire also caused some headaches for transit users. TransLink closed the Surrey Central SkyTrain Station on the Expo Line for a while and buses, which would normally stop at Surrey Central, were rerouted to King George Station. Things re-opened fully at 2 p.m.

 

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