Burnaby firefighters were quick to extinguish a car fire in the underground parking lot at Metropolis at Metrotown on Thursday.
Six fire trucks and 19 firefighters responded to the single-alarm fire at the popular Burnaby mall shortly before 2 p.m. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time, and the investigation is ongoing, according to Darcy O’Shea, assistant fire chief at the Burnaby Fire Department.
“The fire was fairly quickly extinguished. There were no injuries of either fire personnel or any shoppers,” he added.
Security evacuated shoppers and employees in the north portion of the shopping centre near Real Canadian Superstore, while firefighters dealt with the fire. The areas near Sears and Target remained open during the incident.
O’Shea said there was quite a bit of smoke throughout the mall, which seeped in when people were opening and closing the doors to the parking lot.
“As soon as alarm system was able to be reset, the mall’s ventilation system was able to start clearing the underground parking area of smoke, which was quite heavy, quite built-up,” O’Shea said.
NOWphotographer Larry Wright was on scene during the fire and said he could see the smoke lingering in the halls near the entrance by Superstore. There were also large crowds of people standing around outside as they waited to be allowed back inside, he added.
The mall reopened around 3:30 p.m., and the last fire truck left Metropolis at Metrotown around 4 p.m.
