fire!

in my 28 years of living, i don't think i've ever seen a fire up close. that is, until last night. technically, we weren't THAT close, since we were in the car driving, but still, i think it counts :-)

we were on our way home from dinner at my parents' house, and coming across the knight street bridge we could see several different parties with their fireworks - some of them were pretty impressive, some were not. as we drove along marine drive, a fire chief suv raced by us. hmmm, someone's fireworks have done some damage! we continued along, and an ambulance was speeding down marine drive in the opposite direction. wow! busy night. then we carried on and as we approached boundary the visibility changed to hazy and the smell hit us. as we rounded the corner to boundary, there was smoke in the air, and the smell was disgusting. there it was.....a warehouse fire!!

the flames were shooting out of the warehouse into the sky. the fire trucks were already on the scene trying to extinguish the flames. the paramedics were there as well. the fire seemed quite close to boundary.....i'd say about 25 feet, so we got a pretty good view of it, especially since they hadn't closed the east side of boundary. as we left the fire area, more fire trucks were zooming down the hill. chris, being the suspicious person he is, automatically decided it was a meth lab on fire :P what else could smell that bad? when i saw the location, i immediately thought of a wedding florist i had visited in that area, hopefully her business wasn't affected! (in hindsight, i think her building was further inside, not quite visible from boundary.)

anyways, we got home, and i was determined to stay awake for the 11 o'clock news. well, i waited in vain for some big breaking news story.....all they said was a warehouse fire in burnaby was keeping fire crews busy :P so i went to sleep. this morning, i checked out my local news online, and this is what i found on www.cknw.com....

Movie fire turns real - injures several
Nov, 01 2006 - 1:30 AM

BURNABY/CKNW(AM980) - 5 people including 2 fire fighters are injured as a result of a 2 alarm fire in a Burnaby warehouse. Fire officials say the blaze was caused by a movie effect gone wrong.

Fire fighters were already at First Light Studios near Boundary and Marine Drive in Burnaby before the fire started. According to Assistant Chief Kerry Dempsey, they were there to make sure a special effect for a film shoot didn't get out of hand, "They were doing some kind of pyrotechnics during the filming and it got away and just went from there."

Much of the roof has burned. 5 people have been take to hospital with minor injuries including 2 fire fighters with burns to their hands and smoke inhalation.

i called chris, who was still at home, and reported this update to him. as he was driving to work he called me and report that the fire crews were still on the scene dousing the warehouse. must've been some fire! i guess another concern would be all the trees in the area.....it's pretty forest-like along marine drive and boundary.

fires really scare me. i'm so scared in fact, that i've never lit a match or used a lighter. i've tried to use a lighter, but for whatever reason, it's never worked for me. and yes, i know about the child safety lock on them :P maybe this weekend when i go to gourmet warehouse i'll buy one of those lighters that are a foot-long and my fingers never go near the flame (do they sell lighters there?). it's probably a good idea to have a lighter or matches around.....after all, i do have emergency candles if i ever lose electricity for an extended period of time. what good are candles if i can't light them?