An early morning fire has destroyed one barn and damaged another in the 21000 block of 40th Avenue in Langley’s Brookswood area.
Township Assistant Fire Chief Andy Hewitson said firefighters were called to the scene around 5:30 a.m. Monday Sept. 12, and arrived to find a 50 by 250 sq. ft barn “heavily involved” and a second nearby barn the same size was beginning to catch fire.
Six fire vehicles “set up a defensive attack” and closed the road, Hewitson told the Langley Advance Times.
Hewitson said it appeared no animals were in the barns, and there were no reported injuries.
Neighbour Charlene Ellis said the fire started at the north end of the destroyed barn and burned its way south.
“That was a scary way to start the morning,” Ellis said.
She said she woke up early, and noticed an orange glow, reflecting on their vehicles and bumpers outside. She thought it was just moonlight filtering through the haze of smoke from recent wildfires.
But then shortly afterwards, sirens of fire trucks started screaming past her home.
Another neighbour came out with an excavator and started building a fire break on his property to the east of the fire, she said.
Her biggest fear was that it would get into the trees or dry grass of nearby fields, especially to the west, which is the property of the Langley Rod and Gun Club. However, it doesn’t appear the fire spread that far.
The road was expected to remain closed for most of the morning. An excavator was brought in at around 8:30 a.m. to remove wreckage of the barn roof, so firefighters could get at hot spots.
Cause of the blaze has not been determined. An investigator was expected to inspect the scene later in the day.
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