Fire crews tackle ‘suspicious’ 2-alarm SRO fire in Vancouver

Quick work by Vancouver firefighters was able to prevent a two-alarm fire at the edge of Chinatown from spreading on Thursday.

Crews were called to 968 Main Street, just south of the Georgia Viaduct, just after 4 p.m.

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They arrived to find thick smoke billowing from the southeast side of the 22-unit three-storey single-room occupancy (SRO) building.

“Some of the local restaurant people next door had applied a dry-chem extinguisher to try to knock it down — what we did see quickly thereafter was the fire had moved into the walls of the building,” Vancouver Fire Chief Karen Fry said.

“Quick action of our firefighters here who cut into the building to try and stop that spread of fire.”

Fry said the fire started outside of the building, and is considered suspicious. Fire investigators will work with police to try and determine the cause.

Eight residents were displaced from the building, but there were no injuries reported.