Large fire rips through Surrey wharf on Fraser River

Photo: Twitter - @negreiff

Six units from the Surrey Fire Department responded to a vacant wharf on the south side of the Fraser River which went up in flames just before midnight Friday evening.

Surrey Fire Deputy Chief Mark Griffioen says around 20 firefighters responded to the blaze near an industrial area along 116 Avenue. The wharf was fenced off and not in service, no vessels were moored there and no other people were involved says Griffioen.

"It was burning pretty good, of course, it’s a lot of fuel,” said Griffioen adding a number of units were released from the scene fairly quickly. “While realizing that it wasn't going to be put out quickly we also recognized we didn't need everybody that was originally assigned."

Crews sprayed water on the wharf as best they could from the shore but there were some parts that remained smouldering through the night.

Griffioen says there were no spills as a result of the fire and there is no cause for any environmental concerns.

The Vancouver Port Authority is now managing the situation. The cause of the blaze is not yet known.