Homeless in Vancouver: Dramatic early-morning fire hits West Broadway restaurant
Fire broke out early this morning (December 23) on the northwest corner of Granville Street and West Broadway Avenue.
This tied up westbound traffic at the start of rush hour as fire truck after fire truck answered the call to fight the growing blaze.
At 7:26 a.m. the first two Vancouver Fire and Rescue trucks responded to the two storey brick building at 1521 West Broadway
There, a small amount of smoke could be seen coming out both the front and back of the ground-floor restaurant Bob Likes Thai Food.
Fast-growing who-knows-how-many alarm fire
Less than half an hour later, by 7:41 a.m., smoke was billowing out into West Broadway from both the first and second floors of 1521 West Broadway and firefighters could be seen fighting the blaze from both the street side and alley sides of the building.
The arrival, at 7:41 a.m, of a ladder truck meant that there were at least 10 fire and rescue vehicles on the scene, along with a small army of firefighters.
By 8:05 a.m., as daylight prevailed, smoke could no longer be seen coming out of the building.
The fire trucks were joined by an B.C. Hydro bucket truck and an ambulance.
According to the Vancouver Sun, there were no injuries and the fire. Vancouver Fire and Rescue assistant chief Dave Rosenlund said it was largely contained to the restaurant, with “extensive fire and smoke damage” to the kitchen.
Additionally there was some “minor damage” to the utility room of the BitNational bitcoin business upstairs from the restaurant at 1525 West Broadway.
At 9:22 a.m. the last ladder truck to arrive was still on the scene but westbound traffic on West Broadway was moving smoothly around the remaining fire and rescue presence, helped along by community policing officers and transit supervisors.
Bob Likes Thai has been at 1521 West Broadway since at least 2015, according to an ad in the Westender newspaper that year. It replaced Go Fish, which, in 2011, replaced Bin 492.
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