Nobody was hurt after a two-alarm arson fire in Burnaby Thursday night, but 327 hydro customers are still in the dark this morning.
The fire was set at the base of a hydro pole and spread to a nearby house on Imperial between Nelson and Royal Oak at around 10:30 p.m.
“It was started by some, I believe, youth,”assistant fire chief Erik Vogel said. “There were witnesses that saw some people running away; they’d started a fire with the rubbish at the base of a power pole.”
“It was difficult to put out because of the live wires, and we had to stay back, and that’s why it was able to get into the building.”
The person living in the home made one of the dozens of calls that swamped emergency services.
“The tree, I guess, really lit up. We were getting calls from the SkyTrain of all places,” added Vogel.
Traffic was blocked for several hours.