A suspicious late-night fire in the Brow of the Hill neighbourhood is under investigation by police and fire officials.
Shortly before midnight on Sunday, neighbours reported flames shooting out of the roof of a vacant home in the 400 block of 12th Street, said Deputy Fire Chief John Hatch. While the house had been boarded up, he said people had been seen going into the home.
“It’s possibly suspicious,” he said. “There is nobody living in it and it is boarded up. There have been reports of unknown people entering the building.”
New Westminster Police are investigating the fire.
“They had some suspicious people they were interviewing,” Hatch told the Record Monday morning.
New Westminster Fire and Rescue Service is also investigating the fire to the building, one of two side-by-side houses that are vacant.
“The houses are not occupied,” Hatch said. “The power and gas has been disconnected.”
According to Hatch, firefighters from the nearby fire hall on 13th Street were quick to arrive at the scene, soon followed by other crews. After ensuring the fire wasn’t going to spread to the neighbouring house, he said crews went inside the house to extinguish the fire.
“It was contained to the top floor and roof,” he said.
A cause of the fire has not yet been determined. No one was injured in the fire.
