A large fire broke out on the banks of the Fraser River in Delta on Thursday morning.
Fire crews from Delta and Surrey were called between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. to the former sawmill under demolition north of the Alex Fraser Bridge on Alaska Way.
The land is owned by the Port of Vancouver and the organization confirmed the fire is at the site of the former mill.
There are currently no impacts to port operations.
Thick black smoke could be seen across the region and officials from Metro Vancouver have been called in to assess the air quality.
“The guys have been working hard, doing a good job, battling the fire,” deputy chief of communications and operations for the Delta Fire Department, Mike Donoghue, said.
“It’s tough to get to, but we’re able to put up our aerials and a few hand lines to knock it down. It’s still on, but we have it about 70 per cent knocked down. And we’re just, we’re not gonna enter the building because this building is being demolished.
“So it’s more of a defensive fire.”
Donoghue said there was a fire at the site about a year ago and following that, the mill was closed. It was currently halfway through demolition when the fire broke out on Thursday.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
“There were workers on site at the time, so there’s no suspicion of arson, because obviously the demolition crew wants to be able to take all the material and salvage it,” Donoghue said.
He also confirmed no one was inside the building at the time.